The Fire of Zero
by Nisshoku
Summary: A new type of mobile suite, a geneticaly engineered human,and a clone, gets better as story progresses.12 part series all rolled up in one (on request readers). PG13 for minor cursing and violence.


The Fire of Zero  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or pretty much anything else in this ficcy except   
Melaika, Zero, Asashi, and, any other made up characters in this fic, and, of course,   
everyone's favorite butler : Venton ! Sandy and Sar own themselves, of course. Anyway,   
don't sue me, it won't be worth your time of effort. hope you enjoy ^-^  
A/N: Part 13 is the end of The Fire of Zero and has a teaser for the series connected to this  
A special thanks to kyllir02 and ZERO1993, Tyler, and sythe freshie 04.  
And, yes, I'm aware formating gets odd, but converting it to a text document had an odd effect.  
Table Of Contents  
Part Title  
1 The sister of the Arabian Prince  
2 Injustice and Reunion  
3 Flames and Stardust  
4 Friendship and Rampage  
5 Flirtation and Dicovery  
6 Training and Gunblade  
7 Picnic and Warfare  
8 Blast off into Uncertainty  
9 The Flash of Disapearance  
10 Imprisonment and Deception  
11 Escape and Tears  
12 The Disk  
  
PART 1: The sister of the Arabian Prince  
  
Quatre woke up with a start, and immediately cursed himself for doing so. He ached all over, why... he was not sure,   
all he knew was that everything hurt. His vision was slitely blured, but he could make out the faces of all of the other gundam   
piolates standing over him. " Relax Quatre, just relax." came Trowa's soft and ever emotionless voice. Quatre rubbed his head   
and moaned, then plopped back down onto the hospital bed he was lying on. After a few seconds he managed to regain his voice,  
" W-what happened ? " he stammered. " You did a number on yourself there buddy, " Duo of course. " Well gee Duo, ya think ? "   
Quatre managed to mumble. Duo was surprized by Quatre's sarcastic attitude and started to say something snide but was silenced  
by Trowa, " You flew into Site X by yourself, that's what happened. " This took a few seconds for Quatre to process, but it all came  
back very clearly when he did. Yes, he remembered, Site X, yet another site dedicated to building a mobile suite stronger than the   
gundams. The gundams had decided, even though chances were slim to none that anyone could create a mobile suite stronger than their's, it   
needed to be destroyed. Heero had scouted out the site and had discovered they had little,if not no, deffence systems . All they had   
to do was go in there and blow the place up, simple enough right ? That's the way it had seemed until they had run into some new type   
of moblie suits, also created by the site. At first they had seemed as stronge, if not stronger, than the Gundams. Then, after just a few   
minutes of battle, they all selfdestructed. Sandrock had been the only gundam not close enough to one of the Star Dusts to be damaged,   
so Quatre had taken advantage of the situation. He had flown right into the core of the base and blew it up, unfortunately, with him in it.   
Quatre took in a deep, shakey breath and sat up again. A wave of pain rode through his body and he clutched his head, trying to   
some how stop the ringing, but to no avail. Eventually, the pain subsided and he was able to check himself over. His arm seemed to be   
in a sling, he had various cuts and bruises all over his body and a very serious burn on his left thigh. He started to speak but Trowa   
cut him off " What the hell do you think you were doing Quatre ?! " Quatre didn't even hesitate in answering Trowa's question with   
full force, " I was blowing up the facility just as we had planned ! " he said deffending himself. " But you could have been killed ! " Duo  
said butting into the conversation. " We've been in millions of situations where we could have been killed, why is this one diffrent ?! "   
That sent everyone into silence. Quatre was right, this wasn't any diffrent than most missions, so why were they acting diffrently about it ?   
Their thoughts were interupted by a young female's voice, " Excuse me, is this Quatre Reberba Winner's room ?" she asked softly.   
All the gundams turned to face the girl. She wasn't as young as her voice implied, she looked thirteen, maybe fourteen, her hair was a   
light golden-chestnut color that was in a high ponytail and her eyes a sparkling ocean blue. She was wearing a pair of bright blue board  
shorts with a hawaiin pattern runing up the sides and a white t-shirt with a dolphin leaping out of the water. She blinked owlishly, not   
quite used to the attention of so many people, and then spoke again, " I said, is this Quatre Winner's room ? ". " Yes, this is Quatre's room. "   
Heero said plainly. The girl blinked a few more times, " Well... may I see him ? " she asked. " Do you have any relation to him ? " Wu-fei   
questioned. Quatre peeked over all of the gundam piolates to see who his visitor was, " Mel ?! ". The girl stood on her tiptoes to   
look over the gundam's sholders, " Quatre ? " she blinked. " Yeah, it's me alright. " The girl pushed through the clueless gundam   
piolates and hugged Quatre. " I missed you so much Quatre. " Quatre tryed his best to return the hug without further injuring himself,   
" I missed you too Mel. " he wispered. " Ugh, you know I hate being called that Quatre " she said sitting down next to him. " Oh yeah,   
sorry, it's just I haven't seen you in awhile..." he trailed off. She nodded " Not since I was ten. " A long silence filled the room that was  
eventually broken by Duo ( of course ) , " So, who exactly are you anyway ?" he asked, confused.   
The girl blushed and stood up, " Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I didn't introduce myself, my name is Melaika Winner, Quatre's sister,  
the youngest of the Winner family, " she bowed, " and you must be the famous gundam piolates. " The gundam piolates all blinked   
simultaniously. " Gundam piolates,wh- what are you talking about ? " Duo sqeaked. " And since when does Quatre have a younger sister ? "  
Wu-fei questioned. Melaika rolled her eyes and looked at Quatre, " You guys still have to be this secretive about being piolates ? " Quatre  
nodded, " Securiy is a major issue with us." Melaika sighed and looked thoughtfully at the gundam piolates, " Yeah, I guess after all you   
guys have gone through, you have a right to be. " " You didn't answer my question, " Wu-fei said forcefully. " Oh, well, I'm not really...   
supposed to exist. " She sighed. " What do you mean you're not supposed to exist ? " Trowa asked. " It's just as simple as that, I'm not   
supposed to exist, I am... confidential, I have no birth records, no real history, I do not exist. " she said silently. " But... why ? " Duo asked.   
" I don't know, it's just always been that way, I think I have some pupose or something that I don't know about. " " Wow, that must suck. "   
Duo commented. Melaika laughed, " Actually, it's ok, I get the same benefits as Quatre and the others and get to go to a normal school and   
have normal friends, the only bad part is I don't ever get to see my sisters or Quatre, infact, only Quatre knows I exist, the others have no idea. "   
The room once again fell into silence, which was once again broken by Duo, " So... how did you find us ? " Melaika blinked, " That   
information is.... confidential. " " Don't give us that confidential junk miss Winner, how did you find us ? " Heero growled. Melaika glared   
at Heero for a few seconds and then gave in, " Venton." she said plainly. Quatre nodded. Duo blinked,   
" Venton ? What's that ? " Melaika laughed, " He is my most trusted advisor. " " Yes, but how did he find us ? " Heero pressed.   
Melaika shruged " How should i know ? All I ask is that he finds my brother, not how he does it. " Heero still didn't seem satisfied  
but shut up anyway.   
" So, " Melaika started, turning back to Quatre, " how long will you have to stay in here ? " " The doctors said he could come home  
now but he needs at least a week of rest." Trowa said." Was I asking you ? " Melaika glared at him. Trowa shrugged, " No, but Quatre   
didn't know so he wouldn't have been able to tell you. " " Oh..." Melaika said blushing. Trowa was waiting for an appology, but got none what so ever." Well, we should get going then. " Quatre said sitting up. Everyone nodded, except for Melaika, " Shouldn't we check you out first ?" she questioned. " Since when did he check in ?" Heero asked. Melaika blinked and shrugged, " Well, I just assumed..." " Well you assumed wrong. " Trowa interupted her. Melaika glared at Trowa, then started helping Quatre up. " Can you walk Quatre ? " she asked brining him to his feet. " Well let's see..." Quatre said sticking his right foot out and putting weight on it. Quatre smiled, " That one seems ok. " He then stuck his left foot out and immediately fell to his knees, " Erg... ok, that one hurts. " Heero and Melaika helped Quatre up again.   
" So, who's car are you going to take ? Mine or your's ? " Melaika quetioned. " You can drive ?! " Duo asked, nearly triping over his   
own foot. Melaika giggled, " No, of course not, I'm only fourteen. Venton drives the limo. " " L-limo, did you say limo ?! " Duo stammered.   
Melaika looked at Duo like he was crazy ( not that he isn't ) and laughed, " Of course I have a limo, what else would I come in, a jet ?" " Sometimes I wonder..." Duo muttered.  
Heero and Melaika managed to drag Quatre out to the limo and, after a few minutes, actually get him in there. The others each pilled in,   
with plenty of room left to spare. " Where to miss Winner ?" the diver asked. " Quatre's house of course. " she replied. The driver turned   
around, " Are you sure that is wise ? " he questioned. " Of course, Venton, where else would we go ?" Venton sighed and turned around,   
" As you wish miss Winner. "   
The drive to Quatre's house was a long and silent one, well, except when Duo decided it would be cool to turn up the volume of the radio   
full blast and stick half his body out of the sun roof and wave at his ' adoring fans ', until he noticed they were driving buy an ' old folks home '  
and his ' adoring fans' were actually old people waving their canes and walkers at him so he would turn down the sound of the radio.  
When they finally reached Quatre's house, Duo blasted out of the limo so he could go check on deathsythe. Trowa followed Duo just to  
get away from Quatre's sister and Heero and Wu-fei helped get Quatre out. All of Quatre's loyal servents then rushed to Quatre and took him   
up to his room. Heero and Wu-fei went to go check on their gundams as well, and Melaika was left alone at the steps of the VERY large house.  
She wasn't quite sure what to do, she wasn't really even supposed to be here... " Shall I park the limo miss Winner ? " Venton asked. Melaika   
turned to face her loyal adviser, " No, you go have a day to yourself, I need to figure some things out first. " He nodded, " As you wish. "  
Melaika started heading towards where ever the other piolates had gone, but then decided she wouldn't be welcome there and strarted up   
the steps to Quatre's house. She only paused for a second at the door and considered whether or not to knock. She did, and the door was   
promply opened by one of Quatre's many maids, who's eyes grew at least two times in size the minute she saw who was at the door.   
" M-m-miss Winner, what brings you here ? " she asked nervously. " I'd like to see my brother if that isn't too much of a problem. "   
Melaika said forcefully, making sure she'd get her point across to the stunned maid. The maid recovered herself quickly, " Why yes,   
of course. " she said opening the door for Melaika as she walked. " Thankyou, " Melaika said simply, " I'll find his room myself." The   
maid nodded and tryed to walk as calmly as possible to the kitchen where she had been preparing dinner.  
Melaika had started climbing the stairs when she had heard the sweet sound of Quatre's flute. Melaika started humming along   
with the song, she knew this one. She followed the sound up to Quatre's room and knocked softly on the door. The flute kept playing,   
he hadn't heard her. She opened the door anyway and walked in. His back was to her, so he didn't know she came in. She walked over   
to where all his instraments were placed and picked up another flute. She ran her fingers along the flute, getting reacustomed with it,   
she hadn't played since last time she had seen Quatre. She brought the mouth peice up to her lips and began playing along with Quatre,   
who stopped a few seconds to find out who was playing with him. He smiled and then continued playing with her.  
Mean while, the gundam pilots had decided they were hungry and had come inside to find something to eat. Duo, of course,   
was in the lead and had been the first to enter the house. He was stopped in his tracks by Quatre and Melaika's playing. Wu-fei,   
who had been after Duo for calling him a sissy, rammed right into Duo, sending them both sprawling onto the marble floor. Trowa   
and Heero carefully stepped over them, " It seems Quatre is well enough to at least   
play. " Trowa said . Heero raised his head up to the music, " He isn't playing alone though..." Duo and Wu-fei disintangled themselves   
and raised their heads as well. " How can you tell ? " Duo asked. " There is more feeling in the music. " Heero said plainly. Duo gave Heero his ' are you nutts ? ' look, which, of course, Heero ignored and started walking up the stairs. The others slowly followed, entranced in the music.  
Heero quietly opened the door to Quatre's room, trying his best not to make too much noise. Melaika's sholders tensed at the sound of the door opening but immediately relaxed again when she heard a loud 'thump' come from outside the door. " Ouch ! " Duo mumbled and rubbed his head. " Run into the wall again Duo ? " Wu-fei asked. Trowa put a finger infront of his lips to silence them.   
The song flowed through not only the room, but the entire house, echoing off the marble walls and the crystle shandaleers. The song also flowed out the open windows, out into the warm evening and the spectacular several acre garden. All the maids, butlers, and loyal servants paused just to listen to the beautifull music.  
The music ended on a low note, which surprizingly didn't make the song sound at all depressing. Quatre smiled at Melaika, " You remembered ! " he said surprized. She nodded,   
" How could I forget ? We used to play that all the time together. " Quatre smiled and nodded. Melaika sighed , " I should be going now, I have school tommarow." "Yeah, you do. " Quatre sighed. Melaika carefully placed the flute back where she had found it. She ran her fingers over it one more time then walked over to Quatre, " It was a pleasure playing with you Quatre. " she said. " The pleasure was all mine Mel. " Melaika hugged Quatre, " I'll see you later. " Quatre nodded and hugged her back. She reluctently released her brother and started walking toward the door, " It was also a pleasure meeting all of you, " she said to the piolots. They nodded and let her pass. Before she walked out the door she turned around, " Oh, and Quatre ? " Quatre turned to face her " Yes ? " " Don't call me Mel." Quatre nodded. Melaika smiled and walked out the door, leaving them in silence.  
  
PART 2: Injustice and Reunion   
  
Zero awoke to the sound of his father's voice, " Zero, time to wake up, you start school today. " Zero groaned, " Injustice ! School is injust ! " " Yes, I know, but you still have to go." his father yelled from the kitchen. Zero scowled but started getting dressed anyway. He pulled on his purple jump suite and faveorite white t-shirt over that. He pulled out his sword from under his bed and slid it behind his back, right under his shirt. " You won't be needing that, it's school not combat class." Zero's father once again yelled from the kitchen. Zero raised an eyebrow but left the sword there. He slipped on some black boots and walked out of his room. " You want some breakfast ?" his father asked him. " No, I'm fine." Zero said walking to the door. " Wait a minute there Zero, don't I at least get a hug goodbye ?" his father quetioned. Zero growled, " No, I'm too old for that stuff dad !" But his father hugged him anyway, " Dad ! This is embaracing !" His father laughed and released him, sword in hand. " Dad ! I need that ! " he whined. " No you don't, like I said, this is school, not combat class." " Ugh... injustice ! " Zero said and stormed out of the house.   
  
Melaika took her seat in class and sighed. " What's up with you Melaika ? " Jennifer, a blonde, spunky little girl sitting infront of Melaika asked. " Oh, nothing." " Suuure, when you feel like telling me, go right ahead. " Melaika nodded and turned her face to the window. " Hey Melaika ! " Sandy, one of Melaika's closest friends said sitting in the seat to Melakai's left. " Hey Sandy, how's it going ?" " Fine, I guess, but what's up with you ? " Melaika shook her head, " I'll tell you later. " Just then Sandy's sister Sara walked into the room and sat down in the seat to the right of Melaika and waved to her, then turned around to talk to a few of her friends.   
The bell for class to start rung and all the students became silent. The teacher walked in with a new student in hand, " Class, I'd like to introduce you to Zero, he'll be joining us for the rest of the year." The students mumbled a hello and a few waved. " Ugh... fasion disaster," Sara wispered to Melaika and Sandy. Sandy immediately fell out of her seat laughing. " Is there a problem ms. Christiansen ? " the teacher asked raising an eye brow. Sandy blinked, " Um, no, my seat is just a bit... slippery, that's all. " The teacher stared at her for a few seconds, " Get back in your seat." Sandy nodded and did as she was told. " Drink too much Mountain Dew this morning Sandy ? " Melaika wispered. " Nope, Cherry Coke." Sandy answered, still snickering a bit. Melaika sighed and returned her focus to the teacher. " Why don't you sit next to Melaika   
there, " The teacher said pointing to where Sara was sitting, " Sara, go back a seat." Sara nodded, picked up her stuff and moved back a seat.  
" No way I'm sitting next to a girl !" Zero growled. " Zero, sit down now !" the teacher said sternly. " Fine you old bat," Zero mumbled under his breath. " What was that you said ? " the teacher asked raising an eyebrow. " Nothing, " Zero said taking his seat. " I thought so. Now, class, I'd like you to pass in your wonderfull five page essays you wrote for me last night to the front." There was a slite moan from the class as they started passing papers to the front. " Hey, my name is Melaika." Melaika said extending her hand. " I noticed." Zero growled and ignored her hand. Melaika was taken back but continued talking, " So, you like drawing ?" she said peaking over his shoulder at some drawings in his binder. " So what if I do ?" he said quickly closing his binder. Melaika blinked " I think that's pretty neat, I mean, not a lot of people actually draw with pencil and paper anymore." Zero blinked and nodded.  
" So, " Sara said poking Zero in the back with her pencil, " is Zero your real name ?" Zero turned around and glared at her, " No, of course not, my real name is Matsutake and anyone who calls me that will die. " Sara shrugged, " Whatever mushroom boy." Zero reached behind his back for his sword but then remembered his dad had taken it from him earlier. " Erg..." " What's the matter mushroom boy, lose something ?" Sara antagonized. Zero glared at her and turned around to face the front of the class again.  
  
School ended at 2:45. Zero nearly trampled everyone trying to get out of the classroom. He shoved through the crowd in the hallway and eventually reached the out side. He drew in a deep breath of fresh air and started walking towards his house, which was located in a small town just north of the main city. " Hey Zero, wait up ! " someone called. Zero spun around to find Melaika running towards him. " What do you want ?" he asked her when she had caught up to him. " You mind if I walk with you ? Sandy and Sara have some after school activity they're doing so they aren't going home until 4:30." " Yes, I do mind. " Zero said simply. " Oh, well, ok, I have to go see how my brother is doing anyway, I'll see you later, it was nice meeting you. If you want to call me, here's my number." She handed him a small peice of paper. Zero nodded and watched her walk off. Zero sighed ' Girls, you can't live with them ' he thought. He looked after her, ' Well, she wasn't that bad looking at least. ' He sighed, stuck the peice of paper in his pocket and started walking home.  
  
" How's that arm doing Quatre ?" Melaika asked sitting down in the chair next to him. They were sitting in the white gazebo in the garden. One of the maids had brought them some tea and they were letting it cool off first. Quatre moved his arm about a bit and winced, " Not much better." Melaika scooted her chair close to Quatre's and ran her fingers over his arm, " Do you know what you're doing ?" Quatre asked as he watched her examine his arm. " Yeah, I'm not in honors biology for nothing you know." Quatre nodded and watched in amazement. " It's only fractured. " she finally said. Quatre noded, " Yeah, that's what the doctor said."   
Melaika sighed and looked around the garden " It seems even more beautifull than last time I was here ." Quatre noded in agreement. Their silence was suddenly broken by Duo's screaming, " Noooo ! Anything but the hair !!!" Quatre and Melaika both turned around to see what was going on. Duo was running for his life out of the gundam hanger ( although Melaika didn't know that that was what it was ) with Wu-fei in hot pursuite. " Maxwell !!!" he yelled in a rage. Heero and Trowa were following, trying to decide whether or not to stop Wu-fei from cutting Duo's braid off with the long sword he carried around all the time. Duo came ripping down the slite slope of the garden and flew over the rails of the gazebo, crashing down on to the table with the tea. " Ouch." he moaned. Wufei stopped at the rail and started climbing over, unfortunately, Heero and Trowa weren't able to slow down and rammed into Wu-fei, sending them all tumbling over the rail and into Melaika and Duo.  
Melaika winced as she tried to push up whoever had fallen on top of her, " Who ever is on me, please get off ! " " Hey, are you guys ok ?" Quatre asked rushing over to the heap of gundam pilots and his little sister. " What do you think Quatre, does it look like we're ok ?!" Duo grumbled." I-I suppose not." Trowa started pushing himself off of whoever he was on top on. Melaika took in a deep breath as the weight was lifted off of her chest. " M-Melaika ! I'm so sorry..." Trowa stuttered when he realized it was her he had fallen on. Melaika pulled herself out of the heap, " Whatever."  
Melaika stood up and started walking up to the house. Quatre looked at the heap of gundam pilots and then at his sister, " Wait Melaika, I want to show you something." he called after her. She turned around, " What ?" " You'll see. "   
Melaika followed Quatre up the slope and into a large building by the house. " What's in here ?" she asked peering into the darkness. Quatre flipped a few switches and the whole room lit up. Of course, it wasn't really a room, it was the gundam hanger. Melaika looked around and counted all the gundams, " Wow, five gundams all in one place." Quatre noded. Melaika examined each gundam carefully, then grinned, " Sandrock. " she said materafactly and pointed to none other then sandrock. " Yeah, that's Sandrock alright." Quatre said. He walked up to a small laptop on a desk and typed in a few commands in the computer. Sandrock bent down and placed it's hand by Melaika, palm up. Melaika looked over at Quatre with a questioning look on her face. " Go ahead ." he told her. Melaika smiled and pulled herself onto Sandrocks hand.   
" Hold on." he said typing in a few more commands.   
Sandrock's hand slowly raised up to the cockpit, which was open. Melaika jumped eagerly in and looked around, " I see you've made some upgrades." she said typing in some commands so it would give her a basic overlay of the gundam. Quatre's face came onto the view screen,   
" Yeah, lot's of upgrades. " Quatre blinked and watched Melaika go through the main systems with ease, " Wow, I didn't think you would remember how to run the systems. " Melaika nodded and looked up at the view screen, " How could I forget ? This was one of my faveorite parts of visiting you, Quatre. The gundams are a symbol of peace in my eyes. " Quatre stared thoughtfully at Melaika and nodded, " It's just too bad other people can't see that, we're only fighting to make peace."  
Melaika looked down at the watch on her wrist, " Oh shoot, I have to get home. " Quatre frowned, " So soon ?" Melaika nodded, " Yeah, I have school tommarow, remember ?" Quatre thought about this for a minute, " You could stay the night if you want, your old room is still like it was last time you visited, and I could arrange a way for you to get to school tommarow." Melaika sighed and thought about this for a few minutes, " Yeah, sure, I guess we could do that." Quatre smiled and typed in a few more commands. Sandrock's hand once again raised up to the cockpit. Melaika carefully stepped out onto the hand and looked into the cockpit one more time, then she gave Quatre the ok sign and Sandrock slowly lowered her to the ground.  
  
PART 3: Flames and Stardust  
  
Zero walked slowly down the forest path to the small town he lived in. There was a street he could take to get there, but he enjoyed walking this path more. The autumn leaves crunched under his boots and the cool air rustled his hair. He sighed and took in a deep breath, enjoying the smell of the forest. Zero stumbled backward as he relized the smell in the air wasn't of the autumn evening but of smoke. Zero broke into a run. He finally stopped when he reached the town. He gasped, " How could this happen ?" Zero looked around in dismay at the remenents of his town, most of it in ashes, some of it still burning. Suddenly five mobile suites, Star Dusts, blasted off into the air and disapeared from site. Zero was knocked backwards by the downward draft the mobile suites created. He landed in a pile of leaves and lay there trying to make some sence out of what had happened.   
Eventually, he sat up. He looked at his hands, they were shaking, but not because he was scared, he was angry, enraged. " Who ever did this is going to pay. " he mumbled to himself,   
" You hear me ?! " he yelled into the dark night sky, " You're going to pay for this ! " He stood up and tryed to controll the shaking, but to no avail. He fumbled in his pocket for something to calm him down. He grabbed all the contents and pulled them out; a few peices of bubble gum, a twenty dollar bill and some neatly folded peice of paper. He put a peice of the gum in his mouth and was about to throw the peice of paper away when he noticed there was some writing on it.He carefully opened it up " Melaika Winner.. " he read aloud. He looked thoughtfully at the phone number written on it. He sighed and started walking into town to find a phone.   
He reached a gas station and got some change from the casheer, then walked back outside and found the pay phones. He carefully deposited the change and dialed the phone number with a shakey hand. It ringed once and was picked up, " Winner residence." said a middle aged man with a distinct english accent. " Um, is Melaika there ?" Zero asked. " No, she's staying the night at her brother Quatre's house, would you like the number there ?" Zero thought for a few seconds, " No, that's fine, I was going to come over and study with Melaika tonight, she said if she was at her brother's house I should just go there instead, but I don't have any directions. " he lied. The man promptly gave him directions and Zero scribbled them down on the paper with a small pencil someone had left on top of the phone. He thanked the man and hung up. He looked at the directions one last time before setting off.  
  
PART 4: Friendship and Rampage  
  
" Come on Quatre, quit it ! " Melaika giggled. Quatre continued to tickle her until they fell onto the floor in a laughing heap. " Could you two keep it down ?" Wu-fei asked looking up from his book. " Yes master." Melaika said sarcasticly. " Good." Wu-fei said returning to his book. Melaika stuck out her hand and gave Wu-fei the ' loser' sign.Quatre and Melaika immediately began giggling again. Trowa looked up from his book at Quatre and Melaika and smiled. Melaika looked up at Trowa and raised an eyebrow. Trowa immediately went back to reading. Melaika smiled to herself and continued to watch Trowa read, puzzled.   
Melaika snapped out of her daize and pulled herself up off of the floor, being carefully not to hurt Quatre. " I'm going to go get ready for bed Quatre, you can come into my room later and we can read a book together if you want." Quatre nodded and pulled himself off of the floor and sat down on the couch next to Heero, who was also reading. Melaika smiled and walked up to her room, leaving the piolates in silence.  
" So, what do you guys think of Mel ?" Quatre asked breaking the silence. " Melaika. " Trowa corrected him. " What ?" Quatre asked, puzzled. " She likes to be called Melaika, not  
Mel. " He said simply. Quatre stared at Trowa for a few minutes then shrugged, " Ok, so what do you guys think of Melaika ?" he asked." She seems... young." Heero said simply. " Well of course she seems younge, she is young ! " Quatre laughed. " Younger, " Duo pointed out looking up from his comic book, " she's only two years younger than us. " Quatre sighed, " Ok, ok, but what do you think of her ?" " It's too soon to tell Quatre, we've only known her for two days, and she only talks to you." Heero pointed out. Quatre sighed again and stood up, " Well, I guess I'm going to bed too you guys." The pilots nodded and each mumbled good night.  
  
Melaika took out her ponytail and brushed out her long, golden chesnut hair. She sighed and walked over to her balcony. She shivered a bit because she was in her thin light blue night gown and had started to turn around to go get her robe from the closet when she heard a familiar voice, " Hey, Melaika, can you hear me?" Melaika spun around, " Who's there ?" " Down here, it's me, Zero." Melaika peered over the balcony. " Oh, hey zero, what's up ?" Zero shivered,   
" C-can I talk to you ?" Melaika nodded, "I'll be down in about a minute."  
Melaika changed into some warm clothes and carefully made her way down the drain pipe to get to the ground. " What is it ?" she asked, finally planting both of her feet firmly on the ground. " It's... it's my father... he..." Zero trailed off and, finally, tears started flowing, " he's dead, Melaika, they killed my father ! " Melaika was taken back, " Who...who killed your  
father ?" " I don't know, some guys in mobile suites. " he sobbed. Melaika took a deep breath,   
" If you saw pictures would you be able to identify the suite ?" Zero nodded, "I suppose so..." Melaika nodded and bit her lip, " Follow me."   
Melaika took Zero into the garage. " Wow, you guys think you have enough cars ?" Zero said looking around in amazement. Melaika shrugged, " That's not what we're here for." Zero blinked, " Then what are we here for ?" Melaika pointed to a door to the right side of the garage, " That is what we're here for." She walked up to the door and placed her hand on a pad beside it, " Access approved. " a computerized voice chimmed. The door opened and Melaika started to walk in, " This way." she told Zero. Zero followed her and the door closed behind them.   
Zero snapped around and tryed to open the door, " We're stuck in here Melaika !" Zero listened for Melaika's reply but heard none, " Melaika ?" Zero turned around and peered into the pitch black room. " Over here." Melaika's voice called. " Where ? I can't see a thing." " See the little blue circle to your right ?" Zero looked to his right and saw a glowing blue circle, " Yes." " That's my watch." Melaika said. Zero followed the blue circle, and sure enough, it was Melaika's glow-in-the-dark watch. Melaika was typing buissily on a small laptop on a metal desk. " What are you doing ?" Zero asked quizicly. " You'll see." Zero looked around at the huge room but could only see a few feet infront of his face. " What is this place ?" he wondered aloud. " Um... it's an old jet hanger." she lied. " You guys have jets ?!" Zero blinked. " Um, yeah, sure." she shrugged, " Oh, here it is." A few pictures of diffrent mobile suites flashed onto the screen. Zero carefully examined each one and finally pointed to the picture in the center. " That one." Melaika nodded, " That's a Star Dust." She sighed and looked sadly at Zero. " What is it   
Melaika ?" Zero asked puzzled. " The Star Dusts mean ..." Suddenly all the lights in the hanger turned on, blinding Melaika and Zero, " Aha ! I knew you'd be in here ! " Duo said victoriously, " Hey, who's that ?" he said looking at Zero.   
Zero was still blinded from the light but Melaika's eyes quickly adjusted. All five gundam pilots were standing in the door way, all equaly displeased. " How could you do this ? " Quatre asked Melaika, almost in tears. " I'll tell you later, we have a problem." she urged. " Yes, and that problem is you." Heero said holding up a gun. Melaika blinked, " Quatre, please, just listen to me !" she pleaded. Quatre looked at her sadly, " I trusted you Melaika..." he said quietly. A tear trickled down his cheek and he turned around to leave. " What will we do with them Quatre ?" Duo wondered. " I don't care." he said and then left.  
" You guys have to listen to me ! " Melaika once again pleaded." We'll listen if you come with us." Heero bargained. Melaika sighed, " Fine." Zero, who's eye site had returned, glared at the piolates, " I'm not going anywhere !" he said and ripped off towards the stairs that led up to the cockpits of the gundams. Heero launched an aray of bullets at Zero but missed by a mile. Zero continued up the stairs until he reached the first cockpit, Wing Zero. He jumped in and quickly started the systems. Heero ran over to the laptop and started typing in commands,  
" He's jammed up all the systems, I can't get through. " Zero began shooting in all directions. Trowa looked in dismay as he noticed where the next shot was aimed, " Melaika ! " he yelled. Melaika didn't even notice, she was trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Trowa ran and knocked her over to the side as hard as he could. They landed in a heap, just inches from being killed. The wall exploded and Wing Zero mysteriously stopped shooting.  
Zero blinked, " I almost killed her." he said surprized. He turned off all of Wing Zero's systems and opened the cockpit. He stepped out with his hands up, " I surrender." he said simply. Heero regained control of Wing Zero and made it kneel so Zero could get off. Wu-fei and Duo each walked up to Zero and raised their guns. Zero lowered his head and allowed the pilots to put the metal cuffs on his hands.   
Quatre ran into the room, " What happened here ?! " he asked, eyes wide. Duo jerked his head toward Zero, " Mr.Bonde here took Wing Zero for a joy ride." Quatre blinked, unsure what to say.  
Trowa pushed himself off of Melaika, " I'm sorry." he said. " No, don't be sorry. You saved my life, thankyou. " she said and kissed him softly. " What was that for ?" Trowa blinked. Melaika giggled and pulled herself all the way from under Trowa. She tryed standing up but she stumbled and was caught by Trowa. She winced at the pain and smiled at Trowa, " Thanks."   
" I suppose you can't walk." Trowa said. " No, I'm afraid not." she said. Trowa scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to Heero, who was typing away at the computer, " Why were you looking through the mobile suite files ?" Heero questioned. " That's what I was trying to tell you, Zero's village was destroyed by one of those, " she said pointing to the pictures of a Star Dust. Heero blinked, " That means we didn't fully destroy the facilty." Melaika nodded and rested her head on Trowa's chest, " I'm so tired." she said. Trowa blinked and took one of his hands from under Malaika, it was stained with blood.  
Quatre walked over to Trowa and Melaika, " I'm sorry Melaika, I should have listened." Melaika didn't respond. " Melaika ?" Trowa blinked, moving her gently. " Melaika !" Quatre yelled, " Please wake up Melaika !" Trowa put two fingers on Melaika's neck, " Her heart is still beating, " he said, " but she doesn't have much time." Quatre nodded, " Heero, go get Rasheed, tell him to call an ambulance." Heero nodded and ran off.  
" Hold on Melaika, just hold on." Quatre said running his hands through her hair. Trowa sat down on the chair next to the desk and gently rocked Melaika in his arms. Quatre looked on and bit his lip. He put a gentle hand on her cheek and took her hand in his other one, " Please hold on."  
  
PART 5: Flirtation and Dicovery  
  
Melaika awoke in Trowa's arms, he was gently rocking back and forth in a chair. She looked around and noticed she was in a hospital. She could see Duo leaning on the door way, trying not to fall asleep. Melaika sighed and snuggled against Trowa's chest. Trowa looked down at Melaika, " Hi." he said quietly. " Hi." she said just as quietly. " Duo." Trowa called. " What ?" he grummbled. " Go tell the others she's awake." Trowa instructed. Duo nodded sleepily and walked off. Trowa gently put Melaika on the bed and covered her with the blanket. Melaika sat up and looked herself over, she didn't see anything wrong with her." What happened ?" she asked quizickly. " Well..." Trowa said gently placing his hand on Melaika's back. Melaika winced as he gently ran his hand up and down her spine, " It seems I was a bit late pushing you out of the way." he said. Melaika sighed, " I still don't get why he went nutts." " Well, his father was just killed, it seems he's under a great amount of stress." Trowa said simply. " How did you know that ? " Melaika blinked. " Well, we had a lot of time on our hands while they were fixing you up and we decided to get his side of the story."  
Heero and Wu-fei walked into the room, followed by Duo and Sandy, who was driving Duo insane ( not that he wasn't already). " I just looooove your braid Duo, it's sooooo cute." Sandy said batting Duo's braid around like a cat toy. " Hey ! Quit it ! " Duo said snatching his braid from her. Sandy pouted for a second but immediately began bugging him again, " So, what's up with your clothes ? Someone die or something ?" Duo glared at her, " No, but someone is going to if they don't stop bugging me." Sandy blinked and grabbed Duo's braid out of his hands, " Ah well." she shrugged. Duo growled but walked over to Melaika's bed anyway, trying to ignore Sandy, who was batting his hair around again. " Where's Quatre ?" Melaika asked. " In the waiting room berating himself with Mr.Bonde." Duo said jerking his head toward the waiting room. " Why is he doing that ?" Melaika blinked. " He thinks if he would have listened to you this wouldn't have happened." Heero told her." And Zero ?" " He's just mad at himself 'cuz he could have killed you." Duo shrugged. " Bring Quatre in here." Melaika told Duo. " Since when do you give the orders around here ?" Duo asked her. Sandy rolled her eyes, " Come on shinigami." she said sarcasticly and pulled him out by his braid.  
Melaika blinked, " You guys told her ?" Wu-fei shook his head, " No, Duo was trying to get soda from the soda machine and it wasn't working so he yelled ' How dare you keep cafine from the all mighty shinigami ?!' and Sandy just kicked the thing and the soda popped out." Melaika giggled but returned to silence when she noticed no one else was laughing.  
A few seconds later Quatre appeared by the door, " You wanted to see me ?" he asked timidly. Melaika nodded and gave Trowa a look. " Oh, " he said grabbing Heero and Wu-fei, " um... let's go get something to eat you guys." " But we just ate thirty minutes ago. " Heero said trying to get out of Trowa's grasp. " Come on, let's go." Trowa said dragging them out. " Injustice !" Wu-fei's yell could be heard down the hall. Quatre blinked, " So, what did you want me for ?" " Close the door Quatre." Melaika told him. Quatre did as he was told and looked back at Melaika, puzzled. " Now come sit next to me." she instructed. Quatre blinked, but sat next to Melaika. Meliaka instintly wraped her arms around Quatre, " It wasn't your fault Quatre, you couldn't have known Zero would react that way." Quatre was puzzled, but held onto his little sister tightly, " I'm sorry." he said running his hands through her hair. " Don't be Quatre, it wasn't your fault." she said sqeezing tighter.  
Melaika finally let go of Quatre and sighed, " So, what are you guys going to do about Site X ?" " Well, my arm still isn't strong enough to piolate Sandrock, but Zero says he has some kind of mobile suite called Gunblade, an earlier type of gundam, that he can piolate and help us out." " That's great !" Melaika smiled. " I don't know Melaika, he still is unstable from his father's death, you saw him, he almost killed you." Melaika nodded thoughtfully, " Then I'll just have to go up there with him, make sure he doesn't get into anymore trouble." Quatre gasped, " You can't go up there in your contition Melaika, you need rest." " I can too !" Melaika said stubornly and slowly got up off of the bed. She planted both feet firmly on the ground and winced as she began to walk. " No Melaika !" Quatre said running to her. " I'm fine, I can do this !" Melaika said and opened the door. " Did you check me in ?" she asked Quatre. " No, of course not, but... " " Good, let's go." she said, now walking with ease. Quatre blinked, " Well at least let Trowa carry you to the car." Melaika glaired at Quatre, but eventually gave in,   
" Fine."   
Trowa was more than happy to carry Melaika to the car. The others were surprized at Trowa's sudden change of attitude but didn't dare question it. Melaika fell asleep in the car... on Trowa's lap. Wu-fei and Zero glared at each other the whole way. Duo kept glancing at Trowa, blinking owlishly each time. Finally, Trowa got annoyed, " What is your problem Duo ?! " Duo once again blinked,   
" Um... nothing." Trowa glared, " I thought so." " Hey Duo, can I braid your hair ?" Sandy asked. " It already is braided." Duo blinked. Sandy quickly pulled out Duo's hair tie and bat it a bit so the braid fell out. " Erg..." Duo began to growl, but was soon silenced when Sandy began rebraiding his hair." Mmmmm..." Duo purred happily. Trowa raised an eyebrow and began to say something but Sandy covered his mouth with her hand, " Shhh... enjoy the silence." Trowa nodded and Sandy pulled her hand back.  
  
When they finally got to Quatre's house, Sandy gasped when she saw the gundam hanger,   
" What happened ?!" " Mr. Bonde decided to take Wing Zero for a joy ride." Duo said. " What's Wing Zero ?" Sandy blinked. " MAXWELL !!!" Wu-fei growled. " Uh-oh." Duo said and zoomed out the limo door, Wu-fei in hot pursuite.   
Workers were quickly repairing the gundam hanger, trying their best to conceal the gundams inside with a HUGE black tarp. Trowa carried Melaika ( who was still sleeping ) out of the car. Sandy went off to find Duo and bug him some more, Heero went to go stop her from finding out what the gundams were doing at Quatre's house, Zero wuz still silently berating himself and Quatre was trying to figure out what was going on between his little sister and the piolate of Heavy arms.  
Suddenly, Venton came speading up the very large driveway in his red Lexus. Melaika stirred at the sound of the squeeling brakes but returned to sleep when Trowa ran his fingers gently through her hair. " How is she ?" Venton said jumping out of his car. " She'll be fine, she just needs some rest." Quatre said. " Oh, good," Venton said sighing with relief, " here, I'll take her to her room." he said trying to take Melaika out of Trowa's arms. Trowa held on tightly to Melaika. " Um, I can't take her if you won't let go." Venton blinked. " Exactly." Trowa said.   
" But she needs her rest." Venton said once again trying to take Melaika from Trowa. Quatre stepped between Trowa and Venton, " I think he knows that." Quatre said. " Then... why..." Venton started to say. " He'll take care of her Venton, don't worry." Quatre reasured him. Venton blinked, " Oh..." Quatre nodded, " Yeah." " Well, I guess I'll just go home then, if something happens, you have my cell phone number." Venton said getting back into his car. Quatre nodded, " Yeah, thanks for stopping by." he said as Venton started the engine. Venton waved and drived off.  
Zero began walking toward the gundam hanger and wasn't stopped by Trowa or Quatre. Trowa began walking up the steps to the house when Melaika suddenly woke up, " Oh, we're here already ?" she asked sleepily. Trowa nodded. Melaika streched and jumped out of Trowa's arms, much to his displeasure. She winced when her feet hit the steps and fell to her knees. Trowa and Quatre helped her to her feet. She began walking toward the gundam hanger,   
" Hey, " Trowa blinked, " where do you think you're going ?" " I've got to get reacustomed with Sandrock's piloting system." " You can't do that, you've got to get some rest." Melaika shook her head, " No, we need to distroy this base as quickly as possible before they kill more innocent people." " But you still need you're rest." Trowa said running his hand down her back, efficiently reminding her of her injury. Melaika took Trowa's hand in her's and squeezed it, " That doesn't matter Trowa, what matters is that we keep those Stardusts from killing more people." Trowa's eyes softened, " But... Melaika..." Melaika sighed, " We have to do this Trowa." Trowa sighed and nodded slowly, " Yeah, I guess we do."  
  
Zero easily found his way to the Gundam hanger ( how could you miss it ?). He looked around at the damage he had done and sighed. " Nice job you did here Zero." Wu-fei said sarcasticly. Zero turned around to face him , " Yeah, so ?" he said, just as sarcatic. Wu-fei and Zero glared at eachother for a few minutes, " Do... I know you from somewhere ?" Wu-fei asked breaking the silence. Zero blinked, " I don't know, that's just what I was thinking." Wu-fei and Zero continued to study eachother, uncertain, wary, but most of all, curious.   
Duo and Sandy walked in and staired at the damage, both speachless. Duo suddenly snapped out of his daze, " Oh my gosh, Death sythe !" He ran to port two, where death sythe was stationed. The wall of the hanger had been rebuilt on that side so the tarps were no longer nessisary. Duo staired at Death sythe long and hard, looking for the slitest scratch. Once he was possitive there wasn't any damage, he latched onto Death sythes left leg, " I'm so glad you're ok Death sythe." he said stroking it lovingly.   
" Whoa... " Sandy said walking up to Deathscythe, " it's... it's..." " It's a gundam." Heero said walking up to her. She nodded, still staring. " You can't-" " Tell anyone. Yes, I know." Sandy said interupting Heero. Heero nodded. The pilotes each began inspecting their gundams, none of which were harmed.   
Quatre, Trowa and Melaika walked into the hanger. Neither one of them seemed surprized at the damage, well, except purhaps none of the gundams had been harmed. Melaika walked up to Sandrock and began studying it's basic features, " This may take a while." she finaly told Quatre. Quatre nodded, " We'll set up the simulator after all the repairs have been completed.We'll see if you're still able to pilot this thing." The other pilots staired at Quatre for a few seconds, then they looked over at Melaika. Sandy twitched, uneasy because of the tension   
( either that or she had been drinking Cherry Coke again, but let's just say she was uneasy ). Wu-fei slowly nodded. Trowa and Duo nodded in unision. All eyes fell on Heero. Heero staired hard at Melaika, looking her up and down. Finaly Heero sighed and nodded. Melaika smiled and conyinued studying Sandrock, both overjoyed and nervous at the same time, did she still have the skill and the courage to pilote a gundam   
PART 6 : Training and Gunblade  
  
" To your right ! Your right ! " Quatre yelled over the intercom. " I know, I know, I'm not blind Quatre ! " Melaika yelled back, vaporizing the Taurus' to her right. She switched Sandrock around just to see several more coming straight for her.   
Quatre winced as he watched his little sister battling on the view screen. She was better than he thought she would be, but she was still a few seconds slow in her reaction time, but she also hadn't piloted since before the last time Quatre had seen her, so that was to be expected.   
Melaika pulled out Sandrock's vulcan cannon and blasted the Taurus' out of existence. She wheedled around and shot a few more that were right infront of her. She breathed a sigh of relief when the view screen showed there were no more mobile suites in the area. But she didn't totally relax just yet, she knew there would more than likely be some more coming in for a surprize attack.   
She looked around eagerly, looking for an adversary. Several seconds, almost a minute, went by. Slowly, the adrenaline started draining out of her system. Her shoulders slowly relaxed, her breathing slowly calmed down and worst of all, she began to dout there even was another moblie suite out there.  
Quatre cringed as he veiwed Meliaka's health screen. Her heart beat had slowed down and her brainwaves weren't racing across the screen anymore.   
Suddenly the warning indicators began flashing in Sandrock. Melaika was slightly startled at the bright red lights, but quickly recovered. " I have one on region R236, Quatre." Quatre didn't respond. " Quatre ? Quatre !!!" Melaika's heart began racing again, her breathing sped up, she had lost contact with Quatre, now she was on her own. Her hands began shaking and her head began to spin. She looked out the view screen at her adversary, the Tallgeese. She couldn't possibly beet the Tallgeese, it was also a gundam, she had never gone gundam vs. gundam before.  
Melaika suddenly snapped out of the daze, " Wait a minute, I don't need Quatre, I can take care of this one myself ! " Melaika pushed the excelerator bar as far forward as it could go, sending her rocketing towards the Tallgeese. The Tallgeese did the same and pulled out it's Dober Gun. " So that's the way it's gonna be, huh ?" Meliaka smiled arrogantly.   
Sandrock ( piloted by Melaika of course ) pulled out it's Heat Shorters ( those HUGE blades ) and started twirling around like a top, creating a sheild of spining blades. The Tallgeese kept on coming, shooting off the Dober Gun at Sandrock, but to no avail. The Tallgeese spun circles around Sandrock, trying to find an opening in the circle of blades. Suddenly Sandrock zipped under the Tallgeese and pulled up on it's backside. Sandrock quickly slashed the Tallgeese with both blades. The Tallgeese imediately began to explode. Sandrock quickly zoomed off, leaving the Tallgeese in a ball of flames.  
" Is that good enough for you ?!" Melaika yelled at the view screen. Quatre's smiling face came onto the screen, " Yes, that's enough for today." Melaika smiled and pulled the helmet off her head, revealing her beautifull golden chesnutt hair, and opened the cockpit. She stepped outside and stretched, " Sheesh, you had me in there long enough." The pilots looked up from Sandrock's control center, " Yes, but you're still too relaxed. " Quatre said pointing at a recording of Melaika's health stats. Melaika watched the split screen, one half of the screen had her stats, the other was a recording of where the mobile suites had been at the same time. Melaika gasped, " The Tallgeese was extremely close and I hadn't even known it." Heero nodded, " That's what happens when you let your gaurd up, you aren't as alert to what's going on around you." Melaika sighed, " I could have really messed up." Quatre nodded, " Yeah, but you work excelent when you're surprized, the adrenalin seems to rise to it's hight at that point and you and adrenalin actually work together, that's extremely rare in most pilots, even I have trouble controlling the adrenalin when I'm piloting." Melaika blinked and then nodded.  
Suddenly Zero's moblie suite blasted through the open ceiling of the gundam hanger. The pilots and Melaika were blasted back in the down draft. Melaika grabbed onto the railing and grabbed Trowa's hand as he literaly flew by. Melaika some how found the strenth to pull Trowa to the railing and tryed to grab Quatre as he flew past. She grabbed him by his arm but he cryed out in pain because she had grabbed the one that was injured. Melaika let go in surprize and Quatre flew back into the wall with the other pilots.  
The wind finally subsided as Zero shut down the engine of his mobile suite. Trowa fell to the ground and softened Melaika's fall by scooting over a bit and letting her fall on top of him. The other pilots fell to the ground in a heap, with a very sore Quatre at the bottom.  
Melaika winced as she fell on top of Trowa. She started to pull herself up, but Trowa wrapped his hands around her waist and gently pulled her down and kissed her. Melaika smiled, " What was that for ?" Trowa shrugged and replied by kissing her again.   
Duo pulled himself up out of the pile of pilots. " Whoa ! Way to go Trowa ! " " What ? What's going on ? " Quatre said from under the pile. Heero and Wu-fei pulled themselves up and helped Quatre to his feet. Quatre blinked and stared at the two, who had stopped because of Duo's comment. Melaika blushed and pulled herself off of Trowa, who in turn pulled himself off the floor and dusted himself off. His face showed no emotion, unlike Melaika who was almost as red as an apple. Quatre looked from Trowa to Melaika. He raised an eyebrow at her and left it at that.  
" Hey you guys, like my mobile suite ?" Zero said hopping out of it's cockpit. " It's excelent." Melaika said, glad for a change of subject, " What is it called again ?" " Gunblade." Zero said simply. Wu-fei looked in the cockpit, " It looks like an older modle but you've managed to keep it up to speed on the inside." Zero nodded, " I would never change the way Gunblade looks, it reminds me of... " Zero trailed off. " Reminds you of what ?" Melaika pressed. Zero's eyes softened and he looked at Melaika sadly, " It reminds me of-" " Heya Melaika ! What's going on ?" Sandy voice echoed through the hanger. Melaika blinked and walked over to the railing. Sandy was smiling hugely and waving from the lower area of the hanger. " Oh, just training junk." Melaika said smiling and beging to unzip her piloting suite that was over her regular clothes. Melaika tugged at the zipper for a few minutes and shrugged, " It doesn't want to come off." " Here." Trowa said pulling the zipper back up. He then quickly pulled the zipper down before it could get caught on anything. " Thanks, this thing is hot." Melaika said peeling the suite off. " No problem." Trowa smiled. At this point, Duo just about fainted ( I mean, who wouldn't ??? Trowa had smiled !!!). Heero and Wu-fei didn't even look down at Duo, their eyes were both fixed on Trowa. " What ?!" he snapped. Heero and Wu-fei shrugged and pretended to be interested in Zero's mobile suite.   
"So, how much experiance do you have with this thing." Heero questioned. " Not as much as I would like to have, but enough." Zero said. " How much is enough ?" Duo blinked. " I've had this thing since I was 10, but it took me about a year to actually be able to pilot it. " " And you're how old ?" Sandy asked coming up the railing. Zero lowered his voice, " Fifteen, almost sixteen." The piolots gawked at Zero." O-only f-five y-years ?!" Duo stuttered as Sandy pulled him up off the floor. " Maybe less," Zero sighed," but I'm still a damn good piolot !" Melaika winced when Zero raised his voice, he was standing right next to her and had practicly yelled in her ear. Trowa immediately became apprehensive, " Hey ! You don't need to raise your voice like that." he said taking Melaika's hand and pulling her close to him. Zero drooped slightly, " Sorry, I just don't want to be left out of the fight just because I don't have as much experiance as the rest of you. They... killed my father..." Melaika nodded and put an undestanding hand on Zero's sholder, " Yes, I know it must be hard, but you can't let your anger blind you, it will get you no where."  
Zero looked sadly at Melaika, " I know, it's just hard to supress it." Melaika nodded, " Well, we still have some time before the mission, we could go do something to pass the time and maybe make you feel better." Zero raised an eye brow, " Like what ?" Melaika shrugged, " I dunno, maybe go to..." Melaika paused for a minute to think, " we could... go to... the park." Duo nodded happily, almost pulling his braide from Sandy's hands, " Yeah ! The park ! " Sandy pulled Duo's braide back, " Owwwww ! " Duo cried. Sandy began stroaking Duo's braide and quickly shut him up. " Ok then, the park it is." Melaika said happily. Heero and Wu-fei blinked, " The park ?" Wu-fei asked skepticly. Melaika nodded, " Yeah, we've done enough training, we need to get out for a while." " Hn." Heero said crossing his arms across his chest. Melaika blinked and looked at Trowa, " What does that mean ?" " It means he doesn't approve of the park because that's usually where we run into Relena." Melaika blinked several times,   
" You got all of that out of a single 'hn' ?!" Trowa nodded. Melaika raised an eyebrow but continued," We need to get out, just because we may run into Relena doesn't mean we shoudn't get some fresh air." Melaika said sternly. Duo blinked, " No Melaika, you don't understand, Relena's like a stalker or something, she bugs the hell out of Heero." " It's really that bad ?" Melaika asked quizicly. All the pilots nodded rigorously. " Then I guess it wouldn't be fair to Heero if we went." Melaika sighed. Heero hugged Melaika," Thankyou ! " Trowa growled and pulled Melaika out of Heero's arms and into his. Heero uncharacteristicly blinked " Oh, sorry Trowa, Ididn't mean..." Trowa nodded, " Just don't let it happen again. " he said pulling Melaika closer.   
" Hey, I've got an idea ! " Sandy said letting go of Duo's braide. Duo gave Sandy his ' puppy eyes ' look. " Ok, ok, don't get your braide in a tangle." she said taking his braide again, " Anyways, I was thinking we could bring Sara along." The pilots blinked, " Sara ?" they said in unision. Melaika nodded, " Yup, Sara." " Oh, that girl that was poking me the whole period the other day ?" Zero asked. Sandy nodded, " Yeah, her." Zero thought for a second,   
" That could work..." " What ? What could work ?" Duo said, seeming to ask for all five pilots. " You'll see." Sandy said darkly.   
  
PART 7: Picnic and Warfare  
  
" Mmmm... it feels so nice to get out of that cold old hanger." Melaika said streching out across the picnic blanket they had brought along with them. Trowa sat down next to her and pulled her into his lap, " Yeah, it is pretty nice." Melaika smiled and burried her face in Trowa's chest, enjoying his warmth.   
" Oi, ok Sandy, I get it, you're as tough as any guy." Duo said falling back into the grass near the basket ball courts. He gasped for breath and Sandy fell down next to him, " Thanks, it was a good match." Duo smiled, " Ah come on, you know you kicked my butt." Sandy giggled, " Yeah, I know." Duo sighed and looked up at the clouds.   
" Oh look, there's deathsythe." he said pointing at a fluffy white cloud above them. Sandy looked at it thoughtfully,   
" Looks like a dragon to me." " Uh-uh, that's deathsythe." Duo said turning to Sandy. " Dragon." Sandy said sitting up. " Deathsythe." Duo said sitting up and putting his hands on his hips. Sandy shrugged, " Whatever." " Hah, I win." Duo said triumphantly. " Suuuuure, you just go on thinking that." Sandy said laying back down in the grass.  
" Fine, I will." Duo said sticking his tounge out at her and laying back down.  
" I still don't get it, " Zero said shifting on his perch in the tall tree him and Wu-fei were sitting in and taking a bite out of an apple he had pulled off one of it's limbs, " I feel like I know you, you feel like you know me, but we don't seem to remember eachother." Wu-fei nodded thoughtfully, " I know what you mean, and frankly, I don't understand it either." " I don't know, maybe we knew eachother in a past life or something." Wu-fei laughed, " Perhaps, but highly unlikely." Zero nodded, " Then... what ?" Neither knew what to say. Suddenly the wind brought the sound of laughter." Ugh... that's Sandy and Duo, probably contimplating the secrets of the Twinki." Zero said. " Don't you mean the secrets of the universe ?" Wu-fei asked puzzled. " No, that's too high of a levle to think at for them." The two laughed until their sides hurt and fell silent again. " So... you think they're going to hit it off ?" Zero asked Wu-fei. "Who ?" Zero laughed, " Duo and Sandy." Wu-fei nodded, " Well, they have the same iq, mental capacity and... they both have an addiction to soft drinks." " Correction, " Zero laughed, " soft drinks with caffine, they won't drink anything else." Wu-fei laughed, " You've got that right."  
" Are you sure about this Sara ?" Heero said hesitantly. " Of course, I'm a professional at making people unidentifiable, I do it all the time to myself, it get's kind of annoying looking in a mirror everytime I see Sandy." Sara replied. She stood back to see the full results of her work. Heero growled as he looked down at his... new look. He had a pair of kaukis and a hawaiian shirt on, not to mention a pair of Vans and a black hat that he was wearing backwards. " Excelent. " Sara smiled. " You sure she won't recognize me ?" Heero asked Sara doubtingly. " Well, actually, I'm not sure, I've never had to change my look because of a stalker before." " Hn." Heero replied. " Look, I'm sorry, but this is the best I can do, unless you want to be a cross dresser." Heero's eye's widened and he shook his head rigourosly. " K ,it's settled then."  
" Oh Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeero ! Over here ! " Relena said running across the feild toward Heero and waving like an idiot. " Ack, I hope you have a plan B, Sara." Sara nodded, " Sure I do. " Sara then took Heero's hand in her's. Heero's eyes widened, " Go with it, " Sara said under her breath as Relena aproached. Heero nodded. " Hi Heero, whatcha up to ?" Relena asked. "Um, nothing just..." " Going on a romantic strole through the park." Sara smiled. Relena looked taken back, " But... Heero... I thought... we..." " Well you thought wrong, me and Heero are deeply in love and we can't bare to be without eachother." Sara said putting her arm around Heero's waist. Heero nodded. Relena's eyes began to water, " Oh, well, I guess I'll see you later. " she said trying to hide her disipointment. " Yeah, see ya." Sara said pulling Heero up the path. Relena was devistated, " Why Heero ? " she mummbled to herself.   
Sara and Heero walked quickly up the path until they were sure they were out of Relena's sight. " Oi, that was close." Sara said letting go of Heero. " Thankyou Sara ! I'm so happy I could kiss you ! " Heero said grinning hugely. Sara shook her head, " Uh-uh, I'm already taken." Heero drooped slitely, " Oh, ok, I understand."" But I'd be glad to be your friend." Sara said. Heero blinked, " Friend ? What... what's a friend ?" Sara almost fell over, " You don't know what a friend is ???" Heero shook his head, " Not really. I've heard the word, but I never really knew what it was." Sara laughed, " Geez, you gundam pilots don't really have your own life, do you ?" Heero shook his head. Sara took a few seconds to think, " A friend is someone you like to do stuff with, like going to the beach, or the mall, or something else you both enjoy. Friends also usually trust and care for eachother, and I guess that could be close to love, but friend and girlfriend are two totally diffrent ways of feelings, you get what I'm saying ?" Heero blinked,   
" Sort of ." Sara smiled, " Here, let me show you."  
Melaika smiled at Sandy and Duo as they walked up to the blanket, " So, who won ?" Sandy laughed, " Me by a mile." Melaika laughed, and eventually, so did Duo. They sat down on the blanket next to Melaika, " So, where's Trowa ?" Duo asked. " He went to go pick us up some lunch." Melaika smiled. " Ohhhh... what's he getting ?" Duo grinned hugely. " I think he said pizza." Melaika shrugged. Duo jumped up and down, " Yay, pizza !!!" Sandy yanked him down by his braide, " Owwww ! Why do you have to do that ? You could just tell me to sit down you know. " Sandy smiled, " But that's no fun." " Yeah, well, it's no fun having your hair almost yanked off." Sandy smiled. Duo sighed and let Sandy play with his braide while he kicked off his shoes and sprawled out in the sun. " Hmmm... I wonder if Heero and Sara ran into Relena." Duo mused. " Well, if they did, they probably already got rid of her." Sandy said. Duo nodded, " So, are you guys twins or something ?" Sandy nodded, " Yup." " That's cool. You guys get along well ?" Sandy nodded, " Yeah, but we're still sisters, not just twins, so we aren't perfect or anything, and we don't try to be." Duo nodded, " Sounds resonable to me."   
" Hey you guys, up for some lunch ?" Trowa said placing a LARGE pizza on the blanket. Duo nodded rigourosly, " Yuppers !!!" Trowa blinked, " Since when do you say ' yuppers' ?" Duo shrugged, " Ever since Sandy taught me to."" Goody." Trowa muttered. " Yuppers ! " Duo smiled. Trowa rolled his eyes.  
Suddenly a red light on Trowa's watch began to blink, " Shoot, we have a problem you guys." Melaika blinked, " Is that a sort of mission pager ?" Trowa nodded, " Yeah, we better get the others and hurry back to the hanger." Sandy nodded, " We'll go get the others, you guys start the car." " But I want lunch." Duo whined. " We'll have lunch later Duo." Sandy said tugging on his braide. Duo sighed and reluctently followed her.   
Trowa and Melaika literally threw all the stuff into the trunk of Quatre's red Lexus and by the time they were done, everyone had loaded into the car. " Can I drive Trowa ?"Duo pleaded. " Not until you're of legal age and pass a driving test." " Oh, so I can pilot a gundam but I can't drive a car ?" Duo retorted. Trowa shrugged, " I don't make the rules Duo." Duo blinked , " Then who does ?" " Who else ? Relena." Heero told him. " Ugh, no wonder I never liked her." Duo growled.  
  
When they arrived at Quatre's house, Trowa had to park the car himself because Quatre had given everyone working at the manor the day off because he had figured they would be gone all day anyway. Everyone walked into the hanger silently. Melaika looked from Sandrock to Quatre, " How's your arm?" Quatre looked at his arm ( still in a sling ) and then back at Melaika, " Not strong enough to pilot a gundam, that's for sure." Melaika nodded. " And how's that back ?" Quatre asked. " Fine, I'll be fine, don't worry about it." Quatre looked at Melaika worridly, " You sure ?" Melaika nodded, " Yes, plus... " she looked over at Zero, who was putting on his flight suite. Quatre nodded and hugged Melaika, " Good luck, don't go doing anything stupid." Melaika laughed, " Me ? Do anything stupid ?" Quatre forced a smile at her sarcastic comment, " Please, just be carefull." he said releasing her. Melaika nodded and went to go get her flight suite.  
" Uh... isn't somebody supposed to be working in the battle room ?" Zero blinked. Quatre looked up to the third floor of the hanger, which really wasn't a floor, just a room protruding out of the wall of the hanger with an elevator as the only means of access, where people made sure things went as smooth as possible, not only during launch, but also during the actual battle and landing. It was full of specialized computers designed esspecialy for their purpose.  
Quatre nodded, " Yeah, I can do most of it, but I'll need help." Sara and Sandy raised their hands high, waving them about like children raising their hands to answer to a question in a school room. " I don't know, how much experiance have you had with computers ?" Sandy and Sara blinked simultaniousy and began laughing uncontrolably, " You're asking us how much experiance we have with computers ???" Sara managed to laugh. Quatre nodded, extremely confused. " Let me put it this way, " Sandy giggled, " asking us if we have any experiance with computers is like asking the makers of Mountain Dew if there's caffine in it." Quatre gave Melaika a sideways glance. Melaika laughed, " Don't worry Quatre, look up Sandy and Sara in the dictionary, by each of their name's there will be the same deffinition : online junky." Quatre stiffled a laugh, " I guess we can have them help then, huh ?"   
" Pleeeeeeeaaaaase." Sandy pleaded. Sandy looked sternly at Sara and elbowed her, " Oh, yeah, um, pleeeeeeeaaaaaase Quatre." she said giving Quatre the same ' eyes of innocence' look Sandy was using. Quatre smiled and nodded, " Ok, I can use the extra help. I'll give you guys a breafing on the third floor in a few minutes."   
" Okies." they replied happily.  
The pilots split up and began walking toward's their gundams. Melaika looked up at Sandrock, feeling insignificant in it's presence. Suddenly a gentle hand rested on her shoulder, " Don't worry, " came Trowa's voice, " it will be fine, you're a good pilot." Melaika turned around to face him and slow smile spread on her face, " I hope so." Trowa pulled her close and held her, " Just don't get yourself killed, ok ? I..." Trowa seemed to think about the words for a moment, he had never felt this way before, never had he had so much fondness for a person, " I care about you Melaika, please, be carefull." Melaika smiled and nuzzled under Trowa's chin, " I will, and same to you, I don't want you getting hurt." Trowa smiled and breathed in the sweet smell of Melaika's hair, " Ai shiteru Melaika." Melaika smiled and kissed Trowa softly, " Ai shiteru Trowa."  
" Well, good luck." Sandy smiled helping Duo pull on his helmet. Duo nodded, " Thanks." There was an awkward silence between the two, " Soo..." Duo said. " Sooo... " Sandy blinked. " Uh... I've got a battle to fight... I guess..." " Yeah, you should get going..." Sandy said looking down at her shoes. Duo nodded, " Yeah, I should."   
" Well, good luck." Sandy smiled " You already said that Sandy." Duo laughed. " Oh, yeah, I guess I did." Sandy sighed. Duo grabbed the cord that pulled him up to Deathsythe's cockpit and turned back to Sandy. " What ?" she blinked. " Oh... nothing it's just..." he leaned in and quickly kissed her and pulled the cord. Duo went swiftly up and Sandy was left standing there, turning red and rapidly blinking.  
" Now remember, do not push the self destruct button or try to get yourself killed, I still need to teach you about friendship. " Sara told Heero. Heero nodded reluctantly. " Well then, good luck, but I'm sure you won't be needing it with Wing Zero under your control." Heero nodded. Sara gave Heero a brief hug and handed him the cord that lead up to Wing Zero's cockpit. Heero nodded, " Arigato." and the cord pulled him upwards.   
Melaika and Trowa stood there holding eachother, wishing time would just stop and they'd never have to let go. " Come on you guys, I know you'd rather stay here with eachother than save the world, but it has to be done." Wu-fei said patiently, but firmly. Melaika sighed, " I guess." Trowa nodded and released Melaika, or rather, he tried to. Melaika held onto him stubornly. Trowa tried once more, this time more forcefully, but to no avail. Trowa sighed and cupped his hand under Melaika's chin and carefully raised her face to his. He placed his lips over her's and pleasure spread it's way through his body. He felt a smile form on her lips and released her, " Please." was all he needed to say. Melaika nodded and let go of Trowa, grabbing onto Sandrock's rise cord. Trowa smiled and began walking towards Heavyarms, but not before Melaika kissed him one last time, and rose up to the cockpit.   
Zero turned and looked at Wu-fei, " Good luck." " Same to you, Zero." Zero nodded and pulled the rise cord. Wu-fei jogged over to Nataku. He grabbed onto the cord and paused for a moment and looked around at the five gundams and Gunblade. " Give me strenth, Nataku." he said silently and rose up to the cockpit.   
  
  
PART 8: Blast off into Uncertainty  
  
" Ok, we're go on all the thermal boosters." Sandy said putting on the head set that let her communticate directly with the pilots. Quatre nodded, " Ok, Sara, how does the sky look ?" Sara ran her fingers along a keyboard connected to one of the many computers in the room, " All clear, they shouldn't even have to worry about running into any flying air craft for another thirty minutes. " " Good, then we can start the launch system and auto check over in five minutes, but first I've got to make sure you know how to use all these computers." Sara slipped on her head set and nodded.   
" Ok, Sandy, I want you watching stats of both the gundams and the pilots, if Melaika's adrenaline starts rushing above normally safe levles, tell me, but don't be alarmed, that girl has a lot of adrenaline in her and can cope with it. " Sandy nodded and looked at the computers that she would be using, " Ok, I can figure out the main systems of the computers by myself, go brief Sara." Quatre nodded and walked over to Sara, " Ok, your job is to basicly watch the skys, make sure we know about all air craft in the area, enemy or not." Sara nodded, " Ok, easy enough." " Yeah, I'll take care of the rest, ok ?" Sara nodded and began running through the basic systems.   
Quatre put on his own head set and stepped to the main compter, " Visuals on all gundams and their respective pilots." The computer complied and large screen in the middle of the room was split into thirteen diffrent sub-screens, each picture about the size of a computer monitor, except for the center picture, which was about four times bigger.   
" Put Melaika in center screen and establish a connection." The computer replied and Melaika's face came onto the center screen. " How are you doing Melaika ?" Quatre asked. " Fine, Sandrock's systems are up and ready to go." Quatre nodded, " Heero, Wu-fei, Zero, Duo, Trowa, how are all you doing ?"   
" A-ok here Quatre." Duo smiled into the view screen. He fidgeted in his pilot suite, it held him in almost too tightly. Sandy's face flashed onto his view screen. He blushed furiously, " Hi Sandy."Sandy laughed, " Hi Duo, how's it going ?" " Fine, look, I'm sorry about what I did back there -" Sandy cut him off, " Sorry for what ?" Duo blinked, " What I did back there." " Did I ask for an appology ?" Sandy smiled. Duo blinked again, " I guess not... "   
" Then stop appologizing."she laughed. Duo raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off, " So... you wanna do something after I save the world ?" Sandy thought about this for a minute, " Pizza and movie ?" Duo grinned, " You know me so well Sandy." She laughed, " Just keep your eyes on the road, ok ?" Duo laughed, " What road ? I have the whole universe to pilot in, there are no limitations to where I can go." Sandy nodded, " Just do it Duo." Duo smiled, " You know I will."  
" Launch system initiated." the computer chimmed, " please clear the launch pad." The warning could be heard for at least a mile, luckily, that mile was only a small portion of the Winner estate. "Alright you guys, let's get the show on the road." Quatre said.  
Suddenly, all the gundam's engines simultaniously stirred to life. " All systems go, launch in 10..." Melaika blocked out the sound of Sandrock's engines and the computer. She was surprized how calm her thoughts were, it was almost like none of this was happening. She sighed and fingered through the tiny glove compartment for her space gloves and a peice of gum. She pulled the gloves out and the gum she had placed there the day before just incase she got nervous. She unwraped the gum, popped it in her mouth and began to slip her hand into the gloves when her fingers touched a smooth, metal like object. She carefully tilted the glove so the object fell out into her hand. She smiled, Trowa had left her a present. In her hand lay a silver ring with a small blue stone in the middle. She smiled and was about to put it on when she noticed a small inscription on the inside : TB+MW ; Trowa Barton plus Melaika Winner. She slid the ring onto a silver chain she had had in one of her pockets and then fastened it around her neck. She fingered the engravement and smiled.  
" 5..." Melaika was ripped out of her thoughts and back into Sandrock. She quickly tucked the necklace, with the ring, under her suite and slid her helmet and gloves on. " 4...3..." Meliaka felt the adrenaline rush begin,   
" Here we go." she said to her self. " 2... 1..."   
Quatre held his breath, he knew Melaika could do this just as well as he could, but even he had trouble with OZ. He felt a firm hand on his shoulder, " She'll be fine Quatre." Sandy reasured him. Quatre nodded and Sandy sat back down. They watched silently as the gundams took off into space, eventually apearing just as shooting stars in the distance.   
The gundams broke through the atmosphere and slowed down to a stop. " Everyone run a diagnostic on your systems, " Heero instructed, " then, when we're sure all the main systems are working properly, we'll get this started." " Uhhhh... I don't think we have time for that." Duo said, urgently.   
Suddenly a whole fleet of Taurus' appeared on the scanners, " In the R562 sector." Melaika pointed out. Duo sighed, " These aren't even the guys we're looking for." " We can handle them, it will be nothing." Zero said confidently. " Don't get arrogant, Zero, they may be easy to distroy, but there are quite a few of them." Trowa pointed out. Melaika sighed with pleasure at the sound of Trowa's voice. " Hey, Melaika, get your head in this, keep personal things out of the battle." Heero said sternly. Melaika pouted, " Geez, how long is the pole up your-"   
" Melaika..." Trowa scolded. Melaika crossed her arms over her chest, " You guys are sure touchy." Trowa's face came over the personal intercom view screen ( p.i.v.s. for short ), " Come on Melaika, please." Melaika pouted,   
" Why should I ?" Trowa smiled, " Because I said so." Melaika sighed, " Fine, but you owe me one." " What do I owe you ? " Trowa asked, a slite tone of playfullness in his voice. " You'll see." she laughed. " Oh, I'm sure I will."   
" Uh.. guys, I hate to break up this tea party, but watch out ! " Duo broke into their conversation.   
Melaika whirled around and found a Taurus only a few feet infront of her. " Gundam 03, back down before we are forced to open fire on you and your party." " Um... what do I tell them Quatre ?" Melaika asked him over the p.i.v.s. " If he doesn't want a fight, don't give him one, but he may be hiding something, try to get a bit out of him first, but don't press it." Melaika nodded and turned back p.i.v.s. for the leader of the taurus', the pilot gasped as he noticed he was not only speaking to a very young individual, but also a very female individual. " We comply with your request, we aren't looking for a fight." The pilot nodded, " So, what are you guys.. er ... I mean.." Melaika laughed, she had him right in the palm of her hands and he didn't even know it. " What are you doing out her ?" he managed to recover. " I think the quetion is, what are you doing out here ?" Melaika asked raising an eyebrow. " I'm not at liberty to say." he said darkly. " Well, then what makes you think I'm at liberty to say why we're out here ?" Melaika glared. The pilot looked at her thoughtfully, " You're more strong than you look." " And you're more week than you look, no one compliments their enemy, even if they're on good terms with them." The pilot blinked, Melaika's behavior was continuing to surpass all expectations. His stare turned it's way into a glare, " Look, are you going to get out of here or what ?" " Yes, but we'll be watching you." The pilot sneered " We'll be watching you as well."  
With that, the pilot turned off his connection to the p.i.v.s. Melaika slouched a bit in her piloting chair, relived. " I don't think so Melaika, sit up, you're relaxing again." Zero scolded. Melaika glared at Zero, " Hey, I just got our butts out of a fight, give me some slack." " There is no slack in the game of life, Melaika, if you get incinerated, that's it, no more Melaika." Wu-fei commented. Melaika blinked, " ......" " That's right Melaika, that's exactly what you'll be saying, especially because you won't have a mouth to speak with." Melaika receeded into her chair and wimpered. Trowa growled at Wu-fei, " You don't have to be so grafic to get your point across !" Wu-fei growled back at Trowa, " It's the only way to get her to shut up." Melaika pouted, " I don't talk too much." Heero raised an eye brow at Melaika. " I... do ?" Heero nodded, " But so does Duo and Sandy." " Oh, I see, and what about your little Sara ?" Duo smirked. " We're just friends, unlike you and Sandy..." " Uh, sorry bro, but I've got you there, at least I have a SANE girl friend." " If you're refering to Relena, we never were and never will go out." " Heh, even worse, you have zip, zero, nada girlfriends, I have one, and that's all I need." Duo smirked. Heero rolled his eyes, " One is all you could get." Duo growled, " Why would I even need to try for more than one ? Especially with Sandy being that one."  
Back at the gundam hanger, Sandy was turning bright red, she could, after all, hear every word they were saying since they weren't using the p.i.v.s., and so could Quatre and Sara, who were glued to the screen as if they were watching some odd soap opera. Sandy put her head in her hands and sighed, this could go on for hours.  
" Well... I have a better gundam than you do ! " Heero bickered. " Ha, your's tryed to distroy everyone that piloted it, including you, what makes it any better ?" Heero glared, " ...." " That's right Heero, you know I'm right."   
" I'm not saying you're right, I just -" " Boys, boys, what are we, kinder garteners or gundam pilots ?" Sara scolded.   
" Pilots." they all mumbled " That's right, and what do gundam pilots do ?" Duo raised his hand and waved it about,  
" Oh, I know !" " Fine, Duo, tell us what gundam pilots do." Sara told him. " Gundam pilots kick OZ butt !" Duo replyed enthusiasticly. " That's right, so what are you guys waiting around here for ?" Duo shrugged, " I dunno..." The other pilots looked puzzled as well, " Me either." Heero admited. " Ok then, now that everyone is clear what universe they're in, can you PLEASE save the world ???" " Awww... do we hafta ???" Duo whined. " Yes, you have to." Sara said firmly. " Fine, " Duo said unhappily, " let's go save the world."   
  
PART 9: The Flash of Disapearance  
  
  
Duo sighed and slouched back in his piloting chair, they had been floating around in space for at least four hours. " Ugh... I'm BORED !!!" he growled. Heero turned off his connection to Duo and shut his eyes again. This was his way of conserving energy, a half way shut down of his mind and body. This way, he would still be alert enough to sence any trouble, but still be able to rest. The others were doing the same thing, except Duo, who had gotten through '99 bottles of Mountain Dew on the wall', more times than he could count. Melaika yawned and streched,   
" Duo, can't you just rest for awhile like we are ?" Duo sighed, " No, already tried that." Melaika sighed, " Sorry, I can't help you there, I need to conserve my energy, too, you know. " Duo nodded and looked out his window at the earth. " It's so... beautifull." he said to himself. " Yes, it is." Sandy agreed, her face all the sudden flashing onto the p.i.v.s. Duo smiled inwardly at the sound of her voice and nodded.   
They sat in slience for a while, no longer feeling awkward about it, more like comfortable because they were, in a sence, together. " So, how's everything going ?" Duo asked, surprizing even himself. " Fine, the computers here are very easy to use, even for Sara." Duo laughed, a tone of nervousness rising in his voice. " Are you... scared ?" Sandy asked him thoughtfully. Duo shook his head, " Just a bit nervous." Sandy nodded.  
All the sudden, the warning lights in the cockpit went off. All the pilots snapped up out of their half consious state, " We have a major battle cruiser at R602." Heero announced calmly. Zero growled, " These aren't the people we're looking for either." " Patients young grass hopper." Duo told him. Melaika stiffled a laugh and Heero gave her a stern look. Melaika took the command seriously this time and focused her thoughts on the battle cruiser.  
It was large, but a little smaller than the Peace Million. Melaika estimated it could hold a maximum of fifteen mobile suites, but from what she heard, fifteen Star Dusts was more than enough. " Do you think they'll have Star Dusts ?" she asked Duo. Duo nodded, " Most likely." Heero was already running through the main systems of the battle cruiser, " They have ten Star Dusts on board along with five Taurus', but I'm sure the Taurus' are just back up. The cruiser doesn't seem to have any weapons it self, but with Star Dusts on board, there's no reason to need any."   
" What do we need ? An invitation ? Let's get started !" Zero said inthusiasticly. " Wait..." Melaika started, but Zero and Gunblade were already off. The other gundams followed close behind, and eventually, Melaika followed.   
Before they could get to the cruiser, the main hull opened and five Taurus' flew out in a tight line formation.   
" Child's play. " Zero mummble under his breath.  
Gunblade zoomed into the line of Taurus' and vaporized two with his beam cannon. He smirked as the Taurus' went blew up in a great explosion, which was quickly silenced by the lack of air in space. Death Sythe drew it's sythe and twirled it around three times consecutively and brought it down upon another Taurus, slashing it mid torso and causing it to explode. Duo quickly manuvered the end of the staff backwards into another Taurus, which had been about to blow Wing Zero out of the galaxy with it's beam rifle. " I could have had that Duo !" Heero growled. " Yeah, yeah, you're welcome." Duo mummbled.  
Nataku zipped up to the remaining Taurus and extended it's Dragon Fang and ripped apart it's torso, sending electricity through both the Taurus and Nataku, " Ahhhhh !" Wu-fei winced as the electricity seered through his body.   
Sandrock was the farthest from Nataku, but began speeding toward it. " What are you doing Melaika ?!" Trowa yelled. Melaika didn't respond and Sandrock continued towards Nataku. Melaika slowed the speed about 100 meters from Nataku, but still slammed into it at a pretty good speed. " No ! Melaika !" Trowa yelled in horror.   
Sandrock slammed into Nataku, sending up a blinding array of sparks. " Melaika !" Sandy yelled as the health monitors on Wu-fei and Melaika went blank and monitors showing views of what the pilots were seeing through their view screen went fuzzy.   
The pilots winced as the electricity blinded them. Heero shut down his view screen and began to regain his vision. The other pilots followed his example, but made sure to leave the scaning devises on. Once Heero's eye sight had returned to normal, he turned his view screen back on, prepared for the worst. But instead of finding Nataku and Sandrock exploding in flames, it was actually the Taurus that was blowing up. Heero slowly looked to his right. There he found Nataku and Sandrock virtually unharmed except for a few dents from collision on both gundams.   
" Hey, you guys ok ?" he called over the intercom.  
Melaika struggled to sit up, and groaned,she was badly bruised from the collision. Once was able to regain her voice, she responded to Heero, " I'm ok, but I don't think Wu-fei is."   
Sandy jumped up and down when she heard Melaika's voice, " She's ok !" Quatre grinned hugely, " Melaika, you sure you're ok ?" Melaika came onto the main view screen, " I'll be fine Quatre, " she smiled, " but we need to check on Wu-fei." " Um... I don't think there's time for that ! " Duo said, concern rising in his voice.   
Melaika found the strenth to whirl around and view a chilling seen. The hull opened again and ten Star Dusts dramaticly flew out in a diamond formation. " Ah crap." Duo growled. " You said it, Duo." Melaika agreed, " But we need to protect Wu-fei." Heero nodded, " Right, everyone create a perimiter around Wu-fei, hopefully he'll wake up soon."   
The pilots quickly assembled around Nataku in a circular perimiter and drew their weapons; the Star Dusts never advanced. But, the pilots faces never untensed; the grim mix of anger and eagerness remained fixed on their faces. Melaika held her breath, something was up. Zero watched the view screen, waiting for Heero's command.   
" Well, what are we waiting for ?" he growled. " Something isn't right..." Heero said, looking out at the Star Dusts thoughtfully. " I don't care, we need to take those guys down !" he glowered. " Zero, you better listen to them." Melaika said as calmly as possible. " Is that a threat ?!" Zero growled. " No... but you really should listen, ..." Melaika said, concerned. " I don't need to take orders from anyone !" he yelled and sped off in the direction of the Star Dusts.   
" Zero ! No ! " Melaika yelled and began to move forward to stop him, but Heavyarms gently placed it's hand on Sandrock's shoulder and held Melaika back, " No Melaika, please." Trowa pleaded. " But... Zero..." Melaika said worridly. Trowa gave Melaika a pleading look again, " Please." Melaika looked at the view screen at Gunblade and then back at Trowa's pleading face. She sighed and nodded reluctantly.   
" Come on ! I know you wanna fight ! So come and get me ! " Zero yelled, pushing Gunblade to it's absolute speed limit. The Star Dusts started moving, but in the opposite direction, filing back into the hull."  
COWARDS !!!" Zero growled. The last remaining Star Dust turned around before entering the hull and faced Zero. " Well, at least one of them has a sence of honor." Zero smirked.   
Gunblade pulled out it's beam cannon and fired. The Star Dust raised it's right arm sheild and blocked the blast. " Damm, it's strong." Zero blinked. The Star Dust pulled a sheild-like disk from behind it's back. It then removed it's right hand and attached the disk to where it's hand should be. It then pulled a sort of red sphere split in half and put it in the center of the disk. Zero continued firing during this time, but to no avail.   
The disk with the half sphere bagan to spin rapidly and finally stoped. By this time, the sphere was glowing so bright the pilots had to sheild their eyes, " What... is that ?" Duo blinked. " I... have no idea." Melaika said, seeming to answer for all the pilots. " You guys, get out of there ! " Quatre urged, " That thing could be dangerous!"   
Suddenly, a bright red light flashed onto the few screens at the hanger, then, only static. " You guys ?" Sara asked, trying to regain communication. " I'm not reading anything, no life signs, no mech signs, nothing." Sandy said almost silently. Quatre, Sandy, and Sara held their breath and looked at the main screen that showed the exact location, on a large map of the known areas of space, of the gundams . The monitors slowly started to shut down. The lights in the room began to dim. " What... what's going on ?" Sandy stammered. " The room is shutting it self down, if there are no gundams, there is no pupose for the room." " Then... they're..." Sara said silently. " It's too early to be sure, there may just be some disturbance due to the disk the Star Dust used, we have no idea what it's pupose is." Quatre said bitting his lip. Quatre silently walked over to the elevator and left the room. Sara and Sandy stood in silence for a few moments, " We should follow him, make sure he's ok." Sara said. Sandy didn't reply. Sara turned around to find her sister in tears. " Melaika... Duo... they..." she stammered. " It's not for sure yet." Sara reasured her. Sandy nodded and tried her best to keep the tears back. Sara walked over to the elevator. Sandy looked around the room once and followed her sister.  
They found Quatre out side looking up at the stars. He turned around to face Sara and Sandy, " They're ok." he said simply. " How... how do you know ? " Sara blinked. " I've always shared a strong bond with Melaika, and when it's most needed, I can sense her emotions." " Kind of like me and Sara." Sandy commented. Quatre nodded, " Yes, I suppose you guys can probably do something similar." They stood in silence for a long time, the cool night air rustling through their hair.   
" Sandy, Sara, I have something to ask of you." Quatre said breaking the silence. " What ?" Sara blinked. " I... I need you to go to outer space." Sandy and Sara looked at eachother and then to Quatre, " A rescue mission sort of a thing ?" Sandy blinked. Quatre nodded, " I would do it myself, but... " Quatre looked down at his arm. Sara and Sandy nodded, " I'd be glad to ." Sara said. " Me too." Sandy said wiping the rest of the tears from her eyes. " Alright then, I'll call Rasheed and get everyone back down here, you guys go pick out a MS and familerize yourselves with the systems, ok ?" Sara and Sandy nodded. " Ok, " Quatre said taking a deep breath, " you guys are going into space."  
  
PART 10: Imprisonment and Deception  
  
Trowa blinked several times and then fully opened his eyes. " Well, it looks like Sleeping Beauty has awakened." Duo said. " Huh ?' Trowa managed to grumble. " You've been asleep approximately four hours longer than we have." Wu-fei told him. Trowa looked around the room, or rather, the cell, that he had woken up in. " Wait a minute, where's Melaika ?" he demanded. " I dunno, " Duo shrugged, " when we woke up, both her and Zero were gone." Trowa growled and grabbed Duo by the collar (or as well as he could with large, silver cuffs holding his wrists together), " That's all you can tell me ?! She may be hurt !" Heero placed his hand on Trowa's shoulder, " It isn't Duo's fault." he said simply. Trowa's anger faded, " Sorry... I'm just... upset..." he mummbled and put Duo down. Duo nodded, understandingly, " Just don't be so rough, ok ?" Trowa noded, " So, where are we ?" " We aren't sure, but most likely, Site X." Heero said solemnly. Trowa noded, " Yes, I suppose your assumption is relavent, but how exactly did we get here ? And what was that weapon they used ? And why did it - " Duo cut Trowa off, " Whoa, whoa, take it easy Trowa, we don't know any more than you do, just that we woke up here and haven't seen either Melaika or Zero since the battle." Trowa looked away from Duo and closed his eyes, " Yes, I suppose you're right." " We also know one more thing, " Wu-fei said. Trowa looked at Wu-fei, " Oh ?" Wu-fei noded, " Yes, we know we have to get out of here."   
  
Zero opened his eyes and allowed them to adjust to the intense lights shining above him. He found himself sitting up in a chair with straps holding his arms, legs, and chest down securely. There were suction cups connected to wires running along his whole body. The wires were also connected to a computer showing his life signs. Zero growled and looked around. The room was plain white and the only signs of other life were watching him through a glass window across the room. He soon noticed Melaika was also seated next to him in an identical chair. " Hey, Melaika, wake up." he told her. Melaika's eyes fluttered open. " Geez, you're a light sleeper aren't you ?" Melaika blinked at the bright lights and noded. When she finally noticed where she was, and how she was restrained, she began to struggle against the straps. " No, Melaika, you'll hurt yourself." Zero pleaded. " Yes, listen to him, he's quite right, you know." A new voice said.   
Melaika continued to struggle. Suddenly, a jolt of electricity flowed from the wires to her body. " Ahhh !!!" she winced. " Stop it ! You're hurting her ! " Zero told the scientist that had entered the room. The electricity stopped and Melaika no longer struggled. Melaika took in deep, sharp gasps of air and glowered at the scientist, but kept silent. " Who are you ?! " Zero demanded. " My name is Daran Kelaim, and I, " the scientist paused as if to savor the moment, " am your creator."  
  
" You guys ready ?" Quatre spoke over the intercom. " You bet ! I've always wanted to pilot one of these things ! " Sandy grinned. Sarah rolled her eyes, " I'm ready, too. " she said simply. Quatre nodded, " Ok, starting lift off sequence. "   
" Now," Rasheed lectured Sandy and Sarah, " you must follow my every command, is that understood ?" Sara and Sandy noded. " Good, you should do fine, you girls are strong, remember that." Sandy and Sarah noded again and began getting ready for lift off.   
  
" You're what ?! " Melaika blinked. " Impossible ! " Zero growled, " how could you be my creator ?"   
" Easy." Daran said simply. The window infront of Melaika and Zero some how converted to a tv, which amazed them, but not as much as the what they were about to learn.  
First, a small, chinese baby sucking away at it's thumb, was shown. " This, " Daran narrorated, " is 3466, no matter what his real name is, that does not matter, what does is this." A strand of DNA flashed on the screen. Zero blinked, " So ?" " So, this is his DNA structure, now, please allow me to draw a small amount of blood from your right finger." Zero was too curious not to comply. Daran pricked Zero's finger with a specialy made devise made for such cases, and collected a small amount of blood on a slide. He then placed a small bandage over Zero's finger and walked back into the room he had been watching them through. Melaika turned to Zero and blinked. Zero noded, " You said it. "   
The screen suddenly split in half, showing an image of both the first DNA strand on one side and Zero's on the other. Daran came back through the door and used a remote to control the tv. " Anything interesting you   
notice ?" he asked Zero. " They... they're identical."Zero choked out . Daran noded, " Yes, they are, so that means you're a what, Zero ?" Zero swallowed and took a shakey breath, " C-clone." he stammered. " Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. Yes, it's true, Zero, I cloned you from that infant there. Neither of you knew, of course, you never met, and he was only two years of age when we sucsessfully cloned you, so he doesn't have any memory of the event. It's too bad, though, it was quite a break through, too bad it had to be confidential. But, anyways, your creation, Zero, is nothing compaired to Melaika's." Melaika blinked, " What's so special about me ? Am I a clone or someting." " No, Melaika, you are not a clone, you are something far more complex."   
  
" Launch complete." Quatre announced. " That wasn't too bad." Sarah commented. " Yeah, but that was the easy part." Quatre told her. " Well, I kind of figured that." Sarah shrugged. " Set your piloting system to follow   
mine, " Rasheed told Sandy and Sarah, " if we get into a battle, set it to independent mode. " Sandy noded and looked around at the other mobile suites acompaning them; there was 40 in all, including Sarah's and her own. " Sandy, stop day dreaming, set your piloting system." Sarah instucted. Sandy rolled her eyes and set the system. The mobile suite suddenly came to life and began following the others.  
  
" Hey ! Hey you ! " Duo said waving his hand through the bars at the gaurd standing near by. " What ?" the gaurd snapped. " Um... I don't think this dude in here is feeling too well. " Duo told him, jerking his head towards Heero. " So ? " the gaurd shrugged. " They want us alive, right ? Well, I don't think this guy is going to live much longer if he doesn't get some medical attention." The gaurd didn't hesitate for a split second, " Oh, right." he said and motioned to another gaurd to assist him. The first gaurd opened the door with an electronic key and let himself and the second gaurd in. The second gaurd kneeled beside Heero, " What seems to be the problem here ?" Heero groaned, " My stomache... it feels like it's going to explode." The second gaurd looked over to the first,   
" Appendisitus, Neil ?" Neil scratched his head, " I dunno, I didn't take any medical classes in college, like you, I knew what I wanted to do when I got out, and that was not ' be a doctor ' " The second gaurd laughed, " Yeah, there's no way I could make a decent doctor, I have a hard enough time sitting through those monthly physicals, there's no way I could give one myself." Neil laughed, " You said it, Tom."   
" Um.. excuse me... but my friend is dying here." Duo pointed out. Tom noded, " Right, let's take a look here." Tom placed his hand on Heero's stomache. Suddenly, Heero bounded up, " I'm cured ! The pain's gone !   
Thankyou !" he said and glomped the gaurds. " Uh.. you're welcome..." Tom blinked. " I don't know how I could ever thankyou enough, oh, wait, I have some stuff in Wing Zero, I could give you guys make overs ! How does that sound ?" Heero smiled. The gaurds sweat dropped, " Um... we must get back to our stations..." Neil said prying Heero off of them. " Oh, sure, I understand, well, maybe some other time then. " The gaurds noded hastily and nearly ran out of the cell, " Yeah, some other time."   
Once Heero was sure the pilots were out of the cell for good, the smile wiped off his face, " Ugh... I can't belive I let you guys talk me into that..." Heero cringed. Duo laughed, " Hey, at least you know if Gundam Piloting ever falls through you can take up a career as an actor." Heero rolled his eyes. " Did you get it ? " Wu-fei asked him. Heero noded and pulled the electronic key out of his pocket. " Excelent, " Trowa said, " now we can go find Melaika and get out of here." " Whoa, hold on to your horses cowboy, this wagon train doesn't leave until night fall." Duo told him. All the pilots looked at Duo and blinked, " Um... nevermind..." Wu-fei raised an eyebrow, " Right... um, I think what Duo meant to say is that we'll be getting out of here as soon as the gaurds are at the end of their shifts, they'll be tired and won't put up much of a fight." Trowa noded reluctantly and leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, " Tell me when it's time, otherwise, I don't want to be bothered." Duo blinked, " But Trowa-" " I said leave me alone ! " Trowa growled. Duo pouted and looked to Heero. Heero noded. Duo sunk down to the floor and leaned againt the wall. Heero looked out the small window in their cell  
  
" This is booooooooring." Sandy grummbled, " I mean, I don't even get to pilot, just sit around and let the thing do it for me." Sarah rolled her eyes, " Shut up, Sandy, you're lucky enough that Quatre let us... you, come along on this mission." Sandy grumbled to herself for a few minutes, and, much to Sarah's pleasure, shut up. But not for long... " 99 cans of 'Dew on the wall, 99 cans of 'Dew, take one down, bounce it around, 98 cans of 'Dew on the wall, 98 cans of 'Dew, take one down- " " SHUT UP !!!"  
  
" So, what the heck am I then ? " Melaika blinked. " The first geneticaly engineered human. " Daran said, savoring every word that came out of his mouth, " For purposes other than medical emergencys and such, of course." " What ?! " Zero demanded. " It... " Melaika paused for a minute, " it all makes sense now... the secrecy, the seperation from my sisters... from Quatre..." Daran noded, " My aren't you smart ? But then again, you have me to thank for that."   
The screen suddenly flashed a picture of a cell. The cell was microphied into the nucleus. After several more magnifications, DNA was visible. "This was your original DNA structure." Another strand of DNA flashed onto the screen. " And this is it now. " Melaika squinted at the fine details on the DNA strand. " Oh, I suppose you want to examine it more closely. " Daran said pressing a button on a remote in his hand. The restraints on Melaika opened and allowed her to get off the chair. " Melaika ! Run ! Go find the others ! " Zero told her. " It's to late now Zero, we programed her to be curious, looks like we did a good job. " Daran smirked. Melaika studied the screen, " It looks quite similar..." Daran noded, " Yes, you would have looked, sounded, walked, yada yada yada, the same, but, we found a way to program years of training into one individual DNA strand. It's the exact same training your friend Heero Yuy went through, we used some of the sequence caps in several DNA strands from participents in the training to modify your's. "   
Melaika took a minute to digest this. " So what exactly was I programed for ?" she said turning her gaze to Daran. " To be the perfect gundam pilot, of course. Your parents hated the thought, but relized it had to be done. That's also why they wanted you to be a girl. They wanted Quatre to have no compition so he could up hold the family name and buissness. They knew if you were male, there would be a dispute, and because of your advanced training, Quatre would lose, thus, pacifism would no longer be upheld in the Winner name. There was a complication though..." Melaika looked up from the screen and gave Daran a puzzled look. " They came to love you, and even though we had programed you otherwise, you became a very... human individual. You were raised in scientific facilitys until you were five, your parents were timid about seeing you, knowing they might get attached, but they did so anyways. They met you on that fifth year, and that is the reason why we lost full right to you, they instantly fell in love with you..." Daran paused and took a breath, "Your mother wanted to call off the whole thing, but your father reminded her of your purpose. So, we made a comprimize, you would be able to live as a normal person, but visits from your parents were to be few, we knew they would soften you, you see, and we would be able to do check ups on you whenever needed. We were concerned, at first, about your developement, afraid we might loose your training, but we soon came to relize that since the training was in your DNA, there was no way to loose it. So check ups became less and less frequent, and you were put on reserve until we needed you. "   
" That's a bunch of bs. " Zero growled. " You shouldn't be speaking that way to your creator, you know. Have some respect." Daran glowered at Zero. " Creator ?! You think I'm going to be stupid enough to believe   
that ?!" Melaika turned to face Zero, " What reason would he have to lie to us ? " Zero blinked and began musing for an answer, but found none. Daran looked at Melaika puzzled, " Why are you so eager to believe me ?" " I'd hardly call it eager, Dr. Kelaim, I can just tell when people are lying, and you... obviously are not." Daran blinked and noded.   
  
" Interception in two minutes, Sara, Sandy, ready ? " Rasheed announced on the intercom. " I'm ready. " Sandy said eagerly. Sarah noded, " Me too. " " Good, everyone keep an eye out for these girls, they need to get into that facility, give them all the cover they need. " " Hey, who says we'll need any cover ? " Sandy said energeticly. The other ms pilots rolled their eyes, including Rasheed and Sarah.   
Suddenly a voice came over the intercom, " Attention mobile suite piolts, leave the area immediately, this is a restricted area, I repeat, leave the area. " " You think we should listen to them ? " Rasheed asked one of the other mobile suite pilots. The pilot replied by firing a shot at the Taurus that had intercepted them. The taurus exploded. The other taurus' only paused for a moment, " Attack ! " one of the remaining OZ pilots instructed.   
Sandy's ms suddenly was released from the automatic piloting system. " All right, it's time to get this party started ! " she said pushing the throttle forward. Sandy went full speed at a Taurus infront of her. She pulled out the ms' laser sword and sliced the Taurus in half. Sarah blinked, " Sandy, were in the hell did you learn that ?! " Sandy shrugged, " I dunno."   
A stray laser suddenly blew off the right leg of Sarah's ms. Sarah was knocked back against the seat and groaned. " Sar !!!!" Sandy yelled, concerned. " I'll be fine, Sandy, but, the hatch, it's open. " " No, I won't leave you." Sandy argued. " You have to." " No ! I won't ! " Sandy said zooming up next to Sarah. " I'll push the self destruct button if you don't." Sarah threatened. " No... you won't... you wouldn't " Sandy said, tears welling up in her eyes. " I will, you just watch me ! " Sarah placed her hand over the self destruct button, ready to push it down. Sandy bit her lip and turned her ms towards the hatch. Sarah noded, " Keep going, don't look back. " Sandy did as she was told, tears begining to stream from her eyes.   
Sandy reached the hatch, took a deep breath, and blasted inside. She hit against a wall on the far side of what seemed to be a hanger. Sandy masaged her should for a minute and boldly stepped out of the mobile suite. She blinked and looked around. The hanger was empty, nobody had even noticed her forced entry. Sandy pouted, " All that for nothing. " She looked up at a control center in the hanger. The blinds inside were drawn, but she could see shadows moving inside. Sandy smirked, " Or maybe not."   
  
Daran, Zero and Melaika stood, or in Zero's case, sat, silently for a minute. Daran began musing over something, then broke the silence, " Look, I... lied to you Zero. " Zero blinked, " Go on. " " You did meet your clone, very recently infact. " Melaika looked at Daran and then at Zero, " Oh my...." Daran noded. Zero raised an eyebrow at Melaika, " What ?" " You... you're.... Wu-fei."  
  
Heero suddenly stood up, " Time to go. " The others noded and watched Heero as he stuck his hand between the bars and out the window. He placed the electronic card-key into the slot. " Access denied. " the computer chimed. " Dammit, it's a fake key ! "  
  
" Yes Cournal, I'll have the Star Dusts deployed immediately. " Leutenant Casmerald paused and listened into the reciever, " Yes, I understand, no more mistakes." he hung up the phone and sighed. He then began to dial another number on the phone, but his attention was caught by a rattling up in the ventilation system, " What the...?" he walked under the shaft. The shaft suddenly opened and Sandy jumped out. " What are you doing in here ?!" Sandy smirked and placed her hand gently on his neck, as if in an affectionate gesture. " Wha-" Casmerald suddenly fell unconcious. Sandy pulled her hand away, " You'd think OZ solders would at least have been taught pressure   
points. " she said shaking her head dissaprovingly.  
She looked over at the computer screen and sat down at the chair. Her fingers began racing across the keyboard. " Ok, the Star Dusts haven't been launched yet, but they'll find out sooner or later that something's   
wrong. " Sandy quickly got out of the chair and walked over to the door. She was about to walk out, but she spun around and grabbed a few articles off the leutenant. She noded to herself as she decided whether or not to take certain items. When she got to the gun, she paused. She bit her lip and forced her hands around the cold steel and shoved the articles she needed into a pocket.   
She stood up and looked at a map on the wall of the site. She ran her fingers along the map until she found the brig. She noded and quickly slipped out the door.  
  
" What do you mean I'm Wu-fei' ? I'm Zero ! " Zero growled. Melaika looked hard at Zero, " Just that, you were cloned from Wu-fei." " That... that is not possible. " Zero mused. " I'm afraid it is. " Daran said. " That was why... " Zero closed his mouth abrubtly. " That is why what ? " Melaika pressed. " Me and Wu-fei thought purhaps we knew eachother before we met in the gundam hanger. I guess that was true..." Zero said trailing off. Daran noded thoughtfully, " Wow, the original and the clone knew they had some sort of bond even though they never knew eachother. Facinating, I should get the other down here and..." Daran stoped suddenly and looked at Melaika and Zero, " I'm sorry, I really am." Melaika blinked, " For what ?" " It's enough I've made you two somewhat... abnormal, but then I got your friends captured, hurt you, played mind games with you, I'm no creator, I'm a bully." Zero's eyes narrowed, " You sure are."   
Daran sunk to his knees, " I am truely sorry. I know it won't make up for what I have done, but I want to help you get out of here. " Melaika noded, " That's a start." Daran pushed a button on his remote and Zero was released from the bonds on the chair. He jumped off and snatched a concealed gun in Daran's lab coat. Daran didn't even flinch. Melaika helped him to his feet, " We need you to help us find our friends. " she instructed. Daran noded and opened the door to a hallway.  
  
Sandy ran along the corridoors in Site X. She was relying on what little she had of a photographic memory and wasn't sure if she was lost or not. She suddenly found herself at a corridoor which led to two others. She quickly choose to go right and ran into someone while doing so. She fell back onto the cold, tile floor and groaned. She quickly snapped back up and drew her gun onto whoever she had run into. She blinked and lowered her gun,   
" Melaika ? "  
Melaika sat up slowly and winced as her head began throbbing, " That would be me." Sandy droped the gun, sunk to her knees, and embraced Melaika. " Oh my god, it's you, you're alive, I knew you'd be ok, I knew it." Melaika smiled, " You can't get rid of me that easily." Sandy laughed at Melaika's comment, that was something she had often said. " I see I've rubbed off a bit on you." Melaika laughed and noded.   
" Melaika ! Sandy !" Zero said running up to them, " Are you two alright. " Sandy and Melaika noded and stood up. " I'm so glad I ran into you guys, I would have had no idea where to..." Sandy trailed off as Daran walked up to them. " Who..." she blinked. " I'm Daran Kelaim. But this is no time for formalitys, they will release the Star Dusts soon, we must find the gundam pilots. " Sandy noded. Dr. Kelaim pointed the opposite way Sandy had been running, " The cells are this way." Sandy noded and the trio contiued towards their destination.  
  
" Omae o korusu! " Heero growled. He slamed into the door and sunk to the ground. " Ah come on Heero, that's the millionth time you've cursed that door and ran into it, what makes you think it's going to move now ?" Duo grummbled from his corner. Heero sent Duo a death glare. Duo rolled his eyes, " Don't even give me that, you've never seen a death glare until you've seen Sarah's. " Heero ignored him and slammed his fist into the door,   
" Dammit !" he growled.   
" I don't think that's nessisary, Heero." a voice came from outside the door. Trowa immediately stood up,   
" Melaika ! " Melaika noded, " Yup." " And don't forget me ! " Sandy added. " Sandy ! " Duo said hopping up and sprinting up to the door. " Uh-huh." she said happily. Sandy fished around in her pocket for a few moments and found a key-card. She slid it into the slot and the door automaticly opened. Duo pounced on Sandy, " I missed you !!!" Sandy laughed and hugged Duo, " I missed you, too." Melaika happily embraced Trowa and burried herself into Trowa's chest. Trowa tilted up her chin and kissed her. Melaika blushed, " Wow, I didn't think you'd miss me that much." she joked. " I missed you more than I'd miss life itself." he smiled.   
" Hey ! What's going on here ?! " a gaurd said bursting into the cell. Sandy reached for her gun, but relized she had left it back in the corridoor where she had met up with Melaika. The gaurd, upon instinct, fired at Melaika. Duo stepped infront of her and took the bullet in his right arm. He sunk to the ground, " Ugh..." he winced. Zero raised his gun and... got rid of the gaurd.   
Sandy fished in her pockets again and found a wrap-around bandage. " Thought I might need this." She began to unravle the bandage, but Heero stopped her, " We need to get that bullet out of him." Sandy blinked and noded. Daran stepped forward, " I can do it. " He pulled out a small box from his pocket. Inside, there was a needle and a few bottle of diffrent types of injections. He filled up the needle with a greyish one and injected it into Duo's wound. Duo winced as Daran injected the greyish liquid. When the needle was removed, Daran slapped Duo's arm.   
" Hey !!! " Sandy said shoving the docter back. Duo laughed, " Sandy, that was a numbing injection. " Sandy blinked, " Oh... I'm sorry Daran." Daran shrugged, " That's ok, after what I've done, I deserve more than a shove." Daran slipped on a glove from the box, " Sandy, cover his eyes." he said motioning to Duo. Sandy noded and gently placed her hand over Duo's eyes. Dr. Kelaim gently inserted his fingers into Duo's wound. He fished around for a minute and finally pulled out the bullet, his finger covered in blood. He then wrapped up Duo's arm and signaled Sandy to uncover his eyes. " That's it ? " Duo blinked. Daran noded, " That's it." Heero walked to the door of the cell, " Let's get out of here." The others noded in agreement and eargerly followed Heero out.   
  
PART 11: Escape and Tears  
Daran led the pilots to a hanger, one that was, unfortunately, well gaurded. Zero took out a few soulders and Heero, Trowa, Sandy, Wu-fei, Melaika and Daran collected the sudden... extra amount of guns lying around. Several soldiers suddenly came bursting into the hanger." This way." Daran instucted.   
Daran led the pilots into an empty control room. " Why is this one empty ?" Wu-fei questioned. " It's an extra." Dara said simply. " What now ?" Melaika blinked. " They will be launching the Star Dusts soon." Zero said. " How do you know ?" Sandy said turing around to face him.   
Zero had seated himself at a computer and was going through the main systems of the site. " They will be launching all of them in five minutes." he said finally. " Oh my god, Rasheed... the others, they're all out there, they'll have no chance against the Star Dusts." Melaika said sitting down at another computer. " We have to find a way to stop them, they must have some kind of weakness." Sandy said looking over her shoulder.   
The soldiers outside the door suddenly became quiet. " I suggest we leave... now." Heero said pulling Zero and Melaika out of their chairs urgently. " Wait." Zero said taking a disk from the hard drive," Ok, now we can go." Duo blinked, " Go where ? We're trapped." Daran walked over to the wall opposite of the door. He ran his hands along the wall until he found a small groove and opened a hidden door. " Ladys first." he motioned to Melaika and Sandy. They ducked and entered the small door. They soon found they had to crawl to get through the small tunnel. The others followed behind. Daran closed the door behind himself. Suddenly, a huge blast sent everyone sprawling onto the ground, " What was that ?" Melaika blinked. " They set explosives by the door." Wu-fei said getting back up to his knees. Sandy looked quetionably at Heero, " You knew, huh ?" Heero noded, " We need to get out of here, keep moving. "   
They continued on until they came to the end of the tunnel. Sandy found the groove in the wall and opened the door. She hopped out and raised her gun. Fortunately, everyone was at the far side of the hanger. " They're all busy at the other side, hurry up." she wispered to the others as they exited the tunnel.   
Once everyone was out, they closed the door and snuck over to the gundams. " Sandy, come with me in   
Deathscythe." Duo instructed. Sandy noded and followed him. " Dr. Kelaim, you are free to join me in Sandrock." Melaika told Daran. Daran shook his head, " I will stay here." " But you will surely be prosicuted for your actions." Wu-fei told him. Daran noded, " I deserve to, besides, you guys need a distraction." Melaika noded and extended her hand, " I can't say it's been a pleasure meeting you, but purhaps on diffrent terms..." Daran noded and shook Melaika's hand, " Purhaps. Now, go, I'll die happy if you escape. " Melaika noded and tugged at the rising cord and began to rise towards Sandrock. " Wait, what do you mean you'll die happy ? " she questioned. His eyes softened,   
" I have nothing left to live for, so I shall die saving my most valued creations." " No, you can't do that ! " Melaika pleaded. " Why not ? " Daran questioned, " Why do you care about me ? I captured and tortured you, how could you ever care whether or not I die ?" Melaika reached Sandrock's cockpit, " How could I not care ? " " Damn, you're quite the stubborn one, aren't you ? " Meliaka noded. " In that case..." Daran raised his gun. " What are you doing ?! You created me and now you're going to shoot me ?!" Melaika gasped. Daran shook his head, " I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to save you." Melaika blinked. Daran fired. The bullet hit the rise cord and the lower half fell to the floor. " What did you do that for ?! " Melaika growled. " Just making sure you don't try to save me." Daran half smirked. Melaika drooped, " I see..." Daran noded, " Now, go." Melaika noded and got into Sandrock's cockpit. She took one last look at Daran, who gave her a reasuring smile. Melaika sighed and closed the cockpit. All Sandrock's systems immediately came to life. Melaika smiled, " Come on Sandrock, let's go kick some Star Dust butt."  
" Ah crap." Duo growled. " What ?" Sandy blinked. " I can't pilot this thing with my bad arm." Duo glowered. " Oh... I'll do it ! " Sandy said energeticly. " I don't think so, Deathscythe's systems are complicated, I went through years of training to pilot this thing." Duo looked at Sandy, " Ah, what the hell, we're dead either way." Sandy pouted, " You think I can't do it ?" Duo shrugged, " I'm not doubting your ability as a pilot, I'm just saying without proper training-" " Move it, Duo, we'll see who's the pilot around here." Sandy said shoving him off the seat. Duo laughed at Sandy's stubborness and sat in the passenger's seat that converted out of the wall that usually would be right up against the piloting chair.  
Zero strapped himself into the pilot seat and started up Gunblade's systems. He took out the disk he had downloaded from the control center and placed it into Gunblade's hardrive. He began scanning though the contents and suddenly smirked, " So, that's how we take them down." He took out the disk and placed an empty one in it's place. He turned on the visual recording system and took a deep breath, " Record." he instructed.  
" Let's get going." Heero instructed. The gundams roared to life and blasted out of the hanger. " That's my girl." Daran smiled. The solders ran up to Daran, dismayed. " Why'd you let them leave ?!" one demanded. Daran raised his gun, " Because it was the right thing." Another solder fired and hit Daran in the stomach. Daran winced and fell to his knees. " At least we have the Star Dusts, they'll stop them." a solder smirked. " Don't under estimate them, they may not be stronger, but they're faster and smarter than your Star Dusts will ever be." The soldiers glowered at Daran, " How do you know this ?" " Because," Daran gasped, struggling for air, and smiled, " they're gundam pilots."   
" Melaika, can I ask you a favor ?" Zero said over the pivs. Melaika raised an eyebrow, " Sure..." " Thanks, I'm going to transfer a file to you, put it on a disk and give it to Wu-fei please." Melaika nodded, " Ok." Zero transfered the file and Melaika placed it on a disk. She showed the disk to Zero, " This ok ?" Zero noded,   
" Thankyou. I can't tell you how much this means to me." Melaika blinked but noded, " No problem..."   
" Whoooo hooo ! This thing can fly !!!!" Sandy exclaimed happily. Duo smiled, " You know it !!!!" " Ok, let's see what this thing can do ! "  
Deathscythe zoomed up behind five Taurus'. The Taurus' didn't even have time to turn around before Deathsythe sliced them in half. " This thing kicks !!! " Sandy grinned. " Just don't get too caried away..." Duo warned. Sandy laughed, " Me ? Get carried away ? " " I'm serious, Sandy, don't get carried away." Sandy rolled her eyes, " No problemo, Duo."  
" Melaika ! I'm glad to see you got out." Rasheed said coming over the view screen. Melaika smiled,   
" Thanks, but we've got to get out of here, they're about to..." Melaika stared in horor when she saw what was emerginig from one of the hangers. All the moblie suites in the area simultaniously turned towards the hanger. The taurus pilots began to cheer. Gunblade suddenly sped over to Sandrock, " Melaika, I have a plan, I need your help." Melaika noded, " Sure, what do I do ?"   
" Do we fight or run ?" Sandy questioned. " Those who lay eyes upon a gundam shall not live to tell about it." Duo answered darkly. Sandy noded, " Right." Sandy took a deep breath, " Here we go."   
Deathscythe, Nataku, Heavyarms, Wing zero and 39 ( Sandy had left her's in the hanger ) Maganac went speeding at the Star Dusts. Gunblade and Sandrock went racing towards an open hatch in the site. " What are you guys doing ?!" Trowa yelled. " Don't worry, Trowa, keep fighting, we'll be fine." " No ! Melaika ! " Melaika shut off her communication system to Trowa. She bit her lip, " Ok, let's get this battle over with."  
Nataku extended it's Dragon fang towards a Star Dust, but it only blocked the attack. Nataku attempted to strike the Star Dust several times, but failed.  
Heavyarms did it's famous mid air spin in an effort to throw a Star Dust off. It exdended the blades located on it's wrists and attempted to shred the Star Dust. The Star Dust mearly grabbed ahold of both blades and stopped Heavyarms' spin. Heavyarms diployed four homing missiles at the Star Dust. The Star Dust attempted to escape and let go of Heavyarms, but the missiles caught up to it.The Star Dust blew up in a satisfying display of flames. " Alright Trowa !" Duo said, raising his fist in triumph.   
Suddenly, the Star Dusts turned and all went after Deathscythe. " Ah crap, what are they doing ?!" Sandy asked nervously. " They're trying to hurt one of us so we'll all gather into one spot to defend the hurt one." Duo said slowly, putting the peices together, " Then once we're all in one spot..." Duo let it hang for effect. Heero noded, " We should have seen that... it was all a trap." " Why are they coming after me ???" Sandy whined. " They see your inexperiance." Wu-fei said simply. " Oh... well, I guess that's true, but I'm still pretty good at this." Wu-fei rolled his eyes. Sandy growled, " What is that supposed to mean ? I'm not good enough ?" " Oh, you're good enough... for a girl." " Take that back. " Sandy glowered. " It's true..." Wu-fei shrugged. " Take. It. Back " Sandy said through her teeth. " I don't think so. " Wu-fei smirked.  
" You guys, stop arguing and get your head in the battle." Trowa said urgently. " Right." Wu-fei said.   
" Sorry, Trowa, but Wu-fei is being a-" " Sandy, be quiet." Heero told her. Sandy sighed, " Right."   
The Star Dusts had assembled around Deathscythe, they seemed to be trying to come up with a plan. Sandy blinked, " Now what ?" she asked Duo. " I... have no idea." Duo blinked. " Well, I'm not going down without a   
fight !" Sandy said, placing her hands on the controls again.  
  
" Where exactly is the main core ?" Melaika blinked. " In the center." Zero said simply. " I kinda figured that..."" Just keep flying straight, this is the tunnle they let the mobile suites through so they can repair damages to the core." " Why isn't anyone stopping us ?" Melaika blinked, looking around. "They sent all the Taurus' and SD's out to battle." Zero shrugged. " Heh, shows how smart they are." Melaika smirked. Zero noded solemnly. " What's up with you ? You're acting like this is a suicide mission." Melaika laughed. Zero didn't respond. " This is a suicide mission, isn't it ?" Zero noded, " For me." Melaika sat motionless for a second, then exploded, " Zero, I can't let you do that! " Zero looked at her sadly, " It's the only way." Melaika glowered, " No it isn't, there has to be some other way, some way to-" " Don't you think I tried to think of one ?! I'm not suicidle, Melaika, I don't want to die."  
Melaika was still angry, " Then let me take your place ! I'm willing to die for the sake of the colonies !" " So am I." Zero said simply, " Besides, you have Trowa and Quatre to think about, they will miss you like hell, you'd probably put them in a mental hospital if you died, you know how much they care for you." Zero paused, " No one cares for me." Melaika's eyes softened, " I do." Zero noded, " And I for you, you've been a my best friend since the day we met... even if I didn't realy want to admit it. But that doesn't mean you should die for me, I won't let you." Melaika glowered, " Then I'll die with you." Zero shook his head, " No, you aren't thinking straight. Melaika, please, just think about what you are saying." Melaika's eyes suddenly softened. " That's a girl, now, there is a dead end coming up, that's why I need you. I need you to slash through it with the Heat shorters, will you do that for me ?" Melaika noded.  
They reached the dead end. Sandrock pulled the heat shorters from behind it's back. It drew it's arms up and slashed into the door. " It's too thick !" Melaika winced. Sandrock struggled to get the heat shorters through the door. After a few minutes, it eventualy made it's way through. Sandrock then had no problem bringing the shorters out again and slashing down the door with one huge swipe.  
Melaika breathed a sigh of exaustion. Gunblade turned to Sandrock. " Thankyou, now I must plead that you leave." "No, I'm not leaving you here !" Melaika said stubbornly. Zero noded, " I figured you wouldn't." Zero drew out a vulcan gun similar to Wing Zero's. Melaika gasped, " You wouldn't !" Zero sighed, " Melaika, you have been a true friend, may your days be brighter than what mine are to be." With that, Gunblade turned the vulcan gun towards itself and stuck it into it's torso. " No ! Zero !" The vulcan gun fired and the back draft sent Sandrock flying backwards and out of the hanger.  
The shot tore a hole through Gunblade, but it was still operational. Zero's breathing came in short, gasping beaths. He placed his hand over the self destruct button, paused, and noded to himself reasuringy. He pressed down on the button. Red lights and an alarm began going off. Zero sighed and closed his eyes. He suddenly noticed he was crying, " What's this ? I'm not even sad." Zero watched the tears beautifully dance about weightlessly. He smiled slitely, " May my tears wash away the blood shed by these foolish beings."  
  
Melaika began to start back towards the hanger, but suddenly, a red glow came about it. The gundams, Maganacs, and Star Dusts turned around and looked at the huge, sun-like, ball of light and heat the site had become.  
" No." Melaika said, silently, " Please... no."   
Heavyarms sped over to Sandrock and blocked it's vision of the base, " Melaika, snap out of it !" " No !   
Zero !" she yelled trying to shove past Heavyarms. " Listen to me dammit ! We have to get out of here before it explodes !" " No ! I won't leave him !" Melaika sobbed. Trowa sighed. Heavyarms gently shoved Sandrock back a safe distance. The others followed and met up with them. The Star Dusts didn't follow. Suddenly, the Star Dusts began exploding. " They... they were linked to the core." Melaika sighed, " Zero knew that." " How ?" Wu-fei quetioned, " How did he know ? " " I don't know, but, " she held up the disk, " we'll soon find out."  
  
PART 12: The Disk   
A/N: ~~~~~~ = scene change   
" Ok you guys, landing should be relatively easy, just follow basic procedures and everything will be fine." Quatre reasured Sarah, Sandy and Melaika. " No... everything won't be fine..." Melaika murmered. " Nani ? Did you say something Melaika ? " Quatre blinked. Melaika shook her head, " No."   
" Master Quatre, the gundams are entering the atmosphere. " Rashid informed him. The maganac had returned earlier than the gundams because they had had more fuel left. The gundams had had to use the earth's orbit to swing them around to directly above Quatre's estate... FAR above it, but still direct enough to save them enough fuel to land.   
" Wu-fei, I'm going to transfer you the files on the disk." Melaika said suddenly, " it was made for you anyway." Wu-fei noded, " Understood."  
Quatre watched the screen as the gundams broke through the atmosphere. Sandrock suddenly started steering off course. " Melaika, you're going off course, turn back." Quatre said calmly. No response. " Melaika ?" Sandrock suddenly disapeared off the radar. " Rashid, what's wrong ?" "I don't know, the systems were running fine just a few minutes ago. I'll try to find the problem." Trowa's face suddenly came onto the view screen, " Don't bother." Quatre blinked, " Why not ?" " She's doing this on purpose, she jammed up the radar and the communication system." " But... why ?" "I don't know, but she must have a good reason."   
~~~~~~   
" So, tell me again, how did you function with the leg of the Maganac missing ? Didn't it throw you off   
balance ?" Quatre questioned.  
They were all sitting near the fire in Quatre's fireplace. Sandy, Sarah and Duo were sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows, Quatre was drinking hot tea, and Heero was drinking cofee. Trowa hadn't felt like drinking anything, but was also warming himself by the fire. Wu-fei had retreated to his room, suposedly to view the disk.   
Trowa looked over at Sarah, " I was wondering the same thing." Sarah shrugged, " I got rid of the other leg, it still wasn't stable, but it made it easier." " Ah, I see," Quatre noded.   
Rasheed walked into the room, " Master Quatre, I am glad to report we did not loose any of our men in the battle." Quatre smiled, " Good, what repairs are needed ?" " Minor repairs and touch ups for thirty, extensive repairs for eight, and M19 needs a new set of legs, " he raised his an eyebrow at Sarah. " That's only thirty-nine." Heero pointed out. " I kinda crashed mine... " Sandy said, looking down at her feet. Duo laughed and pulled Sandy into his arms, " Don't worry about it, we still love ya." Sandy smiled. " Yeah, besides, we have enough titanium in back up supply to build half a new fleet of Maganac. " Quatre added.  
Wufei suddenly appeared at the door way. " Yes Wufei ?" Quatre blinked. " I...." he pulled the disk out of his pocket. " Well... let's see it then." Heero noded.   
~~~~~~   
Wufei's fingers ran briskly over the keyboard. He placed the disk in and watched it load. Zero's face suddenly came onto the screen. " Hi, Wufei, it's me, Zero. But of course you knew that..." Zero paused, " Along with this audio file is information I obtained from the main system of site X, both on it, Melaika, and..." Zero took a deep breath, " us. Look, I know you won't want to believe this... but the proof is in those files... Wu-fei, I was cloned from you, I'm not a scientist, I don't know exactly how... but I was. I'm sorry I never got to know you, I know that sounds stupid because, I guess, technicaly, I am you, but I still say we are very diffrent people, so please don't think of me as your clone, think of me as your friend." Zero closed his eyes and slitely bowed his head," Arigatou."  
The screen pulled out of video mode. "The file also contains a log of occurences on the site." Wufei scrolled down a bit to an occurence in red. " System black out." Wufei read, " it only lasted a few minutes, but look at these daily logs from the Star Dusts." he said opening up another file, " The Star Dusts blacked out during a maintainence procedure at the same time." Sarah blinked, " But that's only one time, it could have been a random occurance." Wu-fei shook his head, " No, look." he scrolled down the page of the site's systems. Some of the occurences had been highlighted in red. " All of those occurences occured while the SDs were online, there are others, but these are the ones that happened while the Star Dusts were functioning normaly." Sandy noded, " So Zero eventualy came to the conclusion they were linked, that means the SDs didn't have pilots, just a really smart computer puppeting them." Wufei noded, " Exactly."  
The others became silent. Wufei started to leave the room. " Wufei, mind if we look at these files ?" Heero asked him. Wufei noded and left.  
~~~~~~   
Wufei sat down in the main living room. "... And now for our top news. The gundams recently destroyed a top secret base some call Site X. The purpose of the site is unknown and it's officials are not yet willing to step forward and claim the site. Clean up crews from the colonies have been sent to clean up the remenents of the site before they get caught in the earth's gravitaional pull. There are reports of remenents of the site falling around Yoshinji beach, but all so far have, luckily, landed in the water. Scientists say that they predict only a few more peices will be pulled into our atmosphere, and all will land somewhere near shore. We caution you not to go near Yoshinji beach or any near by beach until our top scientists can determine that no more-" Wufei stood up. " Yoshinji, huh ? " he muttered to himself. He grabed his coat and walked out the door.   
~~~~~~   
" I'm going to go grab some lunch, you guys want anything ?" Trowa said suddenly. " " Oh, don't bother, Trowa, I'll have Rashid-" " No, " Trowa said, opening the door, " I'll do it. Now, what does everyone want ?" Quatre blinked but didn't say anything. " I want McDonalds !!!" Duo grinned. Heero grimaced, " Get me anything he'd never eat." Quatre noded, " Same for me." Trowa looked at Sarah and Sandy. " Arby's !!! " they grinned. " Ohhhh... then I want Arby's, too." Duo smiled. " Ok, Arby's for Sandy, Sarah-" " Sar." Sandy corrected him. " Right, then Arby's for Sandy, Sar, and Duo. Subway for Quatre and Heero. Anything else ?" The others shook their heads. " Ok, I'll be back in a little while, " he said, and walked out the door.   
Quatre followed Trowa out the door and closed it behind him. Trowa was grabbing his jacket when Quatre caught up to him. " Trowa, what's wrong ?" Trowa looked at him, " That's kind of a stupid question, isn't it ?" Quatre blinked but then noded, " Melaika ?" Trowa noded, " I just need to get my mind off it for a while." " I'm sure she's ok, Trowa. I'm worried myself, but I know she'll turn up soon." Trowa noded and began to leave when he heard the tv. " So far, we have confirmed six objects from the site have fallen into the water near Yosinji. There are reports of something falling through the atmosphere near Yosinji, but there is no comformation on what the object is and where, when, or even if it hit. It is speculated this may be a mobile suite-" Trowa and Quatre looked at eachother, their eyes wide. " I'll get the others," Quatre said and ran out of the room. Trowa ran outside and started the car.   
~~~~~~   
Wu-fei sighed and looked off into the sun setting into the pristine ocean. " Hn... Zero..." His ears suddenly perked as the sound of feet walking on the sand reached his ears. He whirled around and drew his sword. His eyes became wide as he recognized the figure standing before him. " Me-Melaika ?"  
  
PART 13: Butterfly kisses and the boy Asashi  
  
Wufei lowered the sword, " I figured you'd be here." Melaika didn't reply, just stood there. " Do you have something to say ?" Wufei asked impatiently. Melaika shook her head and in one swift movement took hold of Wufei's sword, struck it to the sand, and sank to her knees. Wufei watched her, " If it's sympathy you want, I'm not the one to turn to." Melaika glared at him, " Sympathy ?!" she said, standing and looking him in the face, " I'm not looking for sympathy you half-wit ! I'm angry and depressed ! My friend just died, this is normal activity for one in this situation, but of course you wouldn't know anything about being normal !" Wufei studied her intense eyes for a moment, " There's a soldier in you, " he observed, " It begs to be let free." Melaika calmed a bit and nodded, " It's genetic."   
She looked out at the waves and sighed, " He could have survived, you know. Trowa and Heero did the same thing, and they survived." Wufei shook his head, " It's very unlikely." Melaika's eyes filled with misty tears, but she didn't let herself cry, " I..I know..I was just hoping..." Wufei nodded, " Right, but eventually you'll have to accept the fact that he's gone...forever."   
" Yo, Melaika ! Wufei ! " The two turned to see Duo and the others advancing towards them. Melaika smiled as strong arms embraced her from behind. " You ok ?" the taller boy asked her, placing a light butterfly kiss on her cheek. Melaika looked at Sandy and Duo, both were trying to dunk the other into the waves and were laughing so hard it made one wonder why their sides didn't ache. Melaika then looked at Sarah and Heero, both staring seriously out at the sea, then to Wufei, who picked up his sword and placed it in it's sheath, then her eyes fell on those of her brother's. He looked back at her with aquamarine eyes and a shining smile that could melt the coldest glaciers and lift the heaviest clouds in to oblivion.   
Melaika smiled back at him and then up at Trowa, " Yeah, I'll be fine." She looked once more at her friends, " It'll be fine."  
~~~~~  
  
" He's waiting for you, " the head of the gaurd nodded towards the large black doors with the golden seal of the Peregrine falcon. The boy nodded and the gaurds opened the heavy doors and allowed him entrance, then shut the doors behind him. " Asashi Nanosakai, do you have the object I requested ?"  
The room was dark, the only sorces of light were two large candles on either side of the man sitting in the chair in the center of the room. Asashi bowed to the man, " Yes sir, I do." Asashi reached in his napsack and pulled out a disk, placed it on the man's desk, backed up, and sat cross-legged on one of the pillows used for guests, waiting for further comment.   
The man placed the disk in his computer and read over the contents. " Excellent, Asashi, you have done well." Asashi nodded. " Did you run into any sort of...trouble while at the Winner residence ?" Asashi shook his head, his stringy hair appearing darker than usual because of the dull light, " They were all out, except the Maganac and butler, of course, but they were easy to slip past.""Excelent, boy, you have pleased me." Asashi bowed his head, "It was my pleasure to serve you, sir."  
The man snapped his fingers and two identical girls of about eight years of age dressed in silver komonos appeared by him and bowed, " What is it your wish, father ?" the first asked. " Take this man to his new quaters." The girls bowed, "Yes, [1] Shifu-sama," they said in unision, bowing to the man. He patted them fondly on the head and handed then Asashi's room key. Asashi stood, bowed, and allowed the two girls to lead him out.  
  
[1] Shifu: Father-like master  
  
  
  
  



End file.
